Fate: New Horizon
by Catastrophic Bacon
Summary: Five years after the events of Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works, Shirou and Rin are finishing up their time at London's Clock Tower, when they are made aware of an alarming situation. The Holy Grail War is starting again, and after two failed rituals, the Grail has changed the rules. Alliances are made and bonds are tested as a Grail War unlike any before it takes shape.
1. New Beginnings

**AN: This is my first attempt into writing fanfiction for F/SN so if I make some mistakes in regard to the lore of the world, please let me know.**

 **This chapter is something of a trial piece to see if it's worth dedicating the time to, so if you like it please let me know through following or reviewing the story.**

 **The story will mostly involve existing characters in the fate universe as the masters, with original servants that don't appear in the fate franchise.**

 **Beta reader/editor:** **Korzark. Simply saying beta reader and editor just doesn't cover how much help this guy was in coming up with the ideas for the plot and characters of this story, if you have time you should check out some of his writing.**

* * *

It was late in the morning when Shirou Emiya was woken up by his phone incessantly ringing on his bedside table. Not even bothering to roll over, he fumbled around with one arm, his hand brushing over a pair of plane tickets and other oddities until he finally found the phone. Bringing it to his ear without checking who it was from he mumbled out a tired "Hello?"

"Shero!" came the overly enthusiastic response of one Luviagelita Edelfelt, or just Luvia as she preferred to be called. "Shero, one of my staff called in sick, any chance you could come in?"

Shirou moved the phone away from his face to check the time on it. It was already nine and he really should have started his day already, clearly Rin's love of sleep-ins was starting to rub off on him.

"Sure, but I'm still in bed so it's gonna take a while for me to get there."

"Would it help if I sent a car around?" Luvia asked.

Shirou couldn't help the sigh that escaped him. This was starting to sound less like last minute work and more like another of Luvia's attempts to spite Rin. "No. I'll be fine making my own way there."

"If you're sure. Bye then!" Luvia's sung through the speakers.

Not a moment after he hung up a feminine, if slightly grumpy, voice spoke up. "Send her a text saying you can't go."

Shirou looked down in response to where Rin lay resting on his chest. "I've already said I'd go and she pays well," he explained, hiding his own reluctance to move from his position. Rin quietly growled in irritation but made no other arguments.

"It's just one more day and we're out of here," he reminded her and he could feel Rin smiling against his chest at thought of being far from Luvia and the Clock Tower. Rin had reached the end of her studies at the Clock Tower, and since she wasn't joining the Mage's Association, it meant it was time for the two of them to leave London. They stayed like that for a few more seconds before Shirou spoke up "Rin? I kinda need you to move so I can get out."

Rin begrudgingly shifted to allow him to escape the bed, immediately taking up the warm spot he had left behind. Shirou couldn't help the smile that came to his face as took in the scene. If someone had told him five years ago that he would be waking up in London with Rin Tohsaka in his bed he would have thought them mad. Yet here he was.

Shirou suppressed a yawn as he made his way to the kitchen. He made it half-way there before Rin's phone went off, indicating she had received a message. He didn't even need to look behind him to know the pissed-off expression Rin would have as he heard her snatch up her phone.

"Who is it?" Shirou asked from the kitchen as he started to grab ingredients.

"Vice Director of the Mage's Association," Rin called back. "Looks like I have to wake up now as well."

Shirou paused in his actions "What does the Vice Director want?" He didn't personally know the Vice Director but he knew her reputation. Lorelei Barthomeloi, sometimes referred to as the Queen of the Clock Tower, was well known for her excessive hatred of vampires and preferring to be out hunting them than completing her duties as Vice Director, which made her contacting Rin out of the blue even more unusual.

"She wants me to meet her in her office," Rin answered as she stepped out of the bedroom. "Probably a last attempt to get me to join the association. Not that that's going to happen, but it can't hurt to let her say her piece."

"Don't jinx it," Shirou replied, going back to preparing breakfast.

He heard the creaking of a door and he turned around to see Rin leaning out of the bathroom with only her head peeking out from behind the door. "Wouldn't you saying don't jinx it be an even stronger sign of bad luck?" she asked with a yawn.

"Does it actually work like that?"

Even with her shoulders hidden by the door, he could tell that she was shrugging. "I don't know," she admitted. "I don't believe in superstition."

As she closed the door behind her, Shirou went back to making sure that their breakfast didn't burn. He didn't quite believe in superstition either, but he couldn't shake the feeling that something was going to happen today

* * *

It was just after ten when Rin arrived outside the Vice Director's office. She took a moment to make sure her appearance was in order, before knocking politely on the polished wooden door.

"Enter," came the muffled response.

Doing as ordered, Rin pushed the door open and stepped inside. The office was spacious to say the least, considering it was almost as big as her entire apartment. Light streamed in through windows that offered a splendid view of London, the light illuminating the various bookcases and weapon cabinets that lined the walls. At the far end of the office, sat behind an elaborately decorated mahogany desk, with her back to the window, was the Vice Director.

The woman was the picture of steely elegance, her posture as perfect as her white blouse was immaculate, her brown hair tied back with not a single strand out of place, her pale skin was free of any blemish and brown eyes that seemed to stare right through you. And unlike Rin had expected, she was not alone in the office. In between the desk and the door, was two comfortable looking couches placed across from each other with a coffee table in the middle. It was on one of these couches that the rooms other occupant resided.

Lord El-Melloi II, a man Rin had come to know well during her studies at the Clock Tower, was sitting down in his usual attire of all black dress shirt and slacks, with a red coat over the top and his straight black hair falling down past his shoulders. Despite only been in his early thirties, the man had risen to fame in the Clock Tower as a great lecturer, but that wasn't all he was known for. Lord El-Melloi II, formerly known as Waver Velvet, was the sole surviving master of the fourth Holy Grail War, the same war that claimed Rin's father, crippled her mother and destroyed Shirou's chance of a normal life.

"You wanted to see me ma'am?" Rin asked politely, not moving from her position in the doorway.

"I did," the Vice Director confirmed curtly. "Close the door and take a seat."

Rin did so, sitting down across from Lord El-Melloi but not relaxing. When some time passed with no-one saying a word Rin spoke up. "If this is about me not joining the assoc-"

"This isn't about that," The Vice Director cut in.

"I don't understand," Rin said clearly confused. "If this isn't about that, then why was I called here?"

The two association members looked between each other, a silent conversation to decide who would do the talking. Eventually it was Lord El-Melloi who sighed heavily and looked away.

Rin looked to the lecturer and he looked back at her with deep frown lines on his face.

"It's starting again," he said simply. Something about the way he said it, the look in his eyes and the tone of his voice, told Rin what it was he was referring to but she had to be sure.

"Wha-" Rin tried to ask but her throat was suddenly dry and the words didn't form. El-Melloi saw it for what it was and elaborated.

"The Holy Grail War is starting again." The words made Rin's blood run cold. She tore her eyes away from the teacher and tried to compose herself. It wasn't the idea of fighting in the war again that had her so shaken, but the idea of Shirou fighting again in that war. For there was no doubt that he would find out, if not from her then from someone else, and it would be just typical for that idiot to get involved just to ensure no ill-meaning person acquired the grail.

"How long until it starts?" She asked, her voice sounding weak even to her own ears. This time it was the Vice Director that answered.

"The exact time depends on when the last servant is summoned, which by our estimates could be as soon as a week."

"What?!" Rin's surprise making her forget her manners as she shouted her question. She had known it would be soon, but was expecting that there would be at least a month or so to prepare, but a week? This was happening way too quickly.

"We have reason to believe the first servant has already been summoned," Lord El-Melloi added. "I believe you know now why you were asked here today, am I correct?"

"I do," Rin said simply as she took a breath to calm herself. "The Tohsaka family is one of the three families given priority when it comes to choosing masters for the war. You want to know if I plan to participate," Rin directed the statement to the Vice Director who nodded in confirmation.

Rin closed her eyes for a moment, recalling the monstrosity that had formed when the greater grail had tried to manifest itself during the fifth war. If there was one thing that her and Shirou would always agree on, it was that nothing good could come from that, and keeping it out of the hands of those that would abuse it, was worth the risk of entering the war.

She opened he mouth to give her answer but Lord El-Melloi spoke up first. "We also have an offer for you." The statement caught her off guard, a phrase that could just about describe this entire meeting for her, yet nonetheless she indicated for him to continue. "The Mage's Association will be entering a master into this war, and rather than going into this war facing six enemies, we believe it would be better to go in facing five enemies with an ally at our chosen master's side."

"That's where you come in," the Vice Director said, taking over. "You've already won a grail war and are almost guaranteed the position of master. You've made it clear you don't want to join the association so we don't expect you to represent us. However, if you agree to ally with us, we are willing to grant a catalyst for you to summon a servant, as well as additional support during the war."

Rin thought about the offer. It was very tempting. An ally was arguably the most valuable thing you could have in the war and it played no small in her and Shirou's survival during the war. The offer of support in the field was also a massive boon. But there was one glaring problem, the catalyst. The fact that they were providing it meant they knew who she would summon, all their strengths, all their weaknesses, and so would be perfectly positioned to defeat them as the war drew to a close. Saying yes was a risk, but refusing them could be an even bigger one given how little time she had to prepare.

"Do you mind if I take some time to consider your offer?"

"Of course," Lord El-Melloi answered. "This is not a decision to be made lightly. However, we are on a tight schedule, and as such we will require an answer tomorrow."

"Thank you," Rin said politely, it wasn't much but it would give her some much-needed time to think.

"There is something else you should know before making your decision," the Vice Director declared. "By all accounts this war will not be happening in Fuyuki City."

* * *

Rin tried to hide the urgency and tension she felt as she left the Vice Director's office, but judging by the way people hurried out of her way, she wasn't doing a very good job. But that didn't matter. All the power struggles and behind-the-scenes politics that made up the Clock Tower's social hierarchy no longer mattered. The return of the Holy Grail and making sure no one got a hold of its destructive power was all that mattered.

Her mind was running a mile a minute trying to come up with plans to approach this war with, but above all other thoughts there was one that took priority. She needed to find Shirou and tell him, which is why she found herself walking so fast it was almost a jog, in the direction of her least favourite place in London, the Edelfelt Manor. She had nothing against the building itself, the pale wall and various archways had a regal quality to them that she admired. The building just happened to suffer the unfortunate fate of being home to Rin's long-standing rival and Shirou's employer, Luvia Edelfelt.

Arriving in front of the large front door, she wasted no time in hammering on the door with the brass knocker. As soon as she saw the door start to open she pushed through with an apology thrown over her shoulder to the maid who had been opening the door, before her sudden entry knocked her over.

Having been to the manor enough times to be familiar with the layout, and knowing Luvia as she did, she confidently made her way through the luxurious building, to where she knew Shirou would be. As predicted, when she entered Luvia's personal study it was to see her reclined in an armchair, book in hand, as Shirou, dressed in attire befitting a butler, poured tea.

The sight of Shirou in his work uniform was, in Rin's opinion, was the only redeeming aspect of his job in the Edelfelt household, and was enough for her to momentarily forget her reason for coming here. The moment didn't last long, and Rin crossed the room quickly as her previous urgency returned to her.

Grabbing Shirou by the hand and giving a quick "Something urgent came up," to Luvia, she tried to walk back out, only for Luvia's hand to grab her firmly by the shoulder.

"Excuse me!" Luvia exclaimed indignantly, glaring daggers at Rin. "But Shero is currently working and as such is not at liberty to be dragged off at your whims. Surely even you can understand something as simple as that?"

Rin didn't know what her expression was, but what she did know was that in the entire time she had known Luvia, she had never once been able to intimidate her, yet when she looked back at the blonde and growled "It's. Urgent," the girl flinched. The action was enough for her grip on Rin's shoulder to loosen and she was out the study a moment later with Shirou in tow.

"Rin? What's going on?" Shirou asked, sounding understandably confused.

"I'll explain," Rin promised as she walked back through the manor's passageways "but first we need to be somewhere private."

"Follow me," Shirou said, taking the lead and guiding her through the staff work areas until they arrived in a storeroom containing the manor's spare linen. "We should be fine here," Shirou said as he closed the door behind them. "Now would you mind explaining what was so important that you willingly came to Luvia's home?"

Rin sighed heavily as she leaned back against a mountain of clean sheets "Honestly I'd rather not. After what I heard in that meeting I want nothing more than to pack my bags and run away with you to somewhere safe. If such a place even exists," the last part was whispered as Rin's chin came down to rest on her knees.

"Rin? What happened in your meeting today?" Shirou asked, seriously concerned as to what could get Rin, one of the bravest people he knew and that was including heroic spirits, so shaken. "If they threatened you-"

"It wasn't that," Rin quickly cut in as her head came up to look him in the eyes. "The Holy Grail War is starting again."

The words hit like a physical blow and Shirou took a step back as memories started to flash before his eyes. Memories of heroes of myth and legend, brought to life with the power to level entire buildings.

"What's the plan?" Shirou asked. A million other questions flew to mind, how it was starting so soon being a recurring one, but he knew that reasons why this was happening, at least for the moment, weren't as important as what they were going to do about it. He knew Rin, and so he knew she wouldn't ignore something like a grail war, and if she was going in it wasn't without some sort of plan.

"There's a lot going on with this war," Rin explained as she stood up and faced Shirou "its sudden return is just one part of that. Before we make any serious plans, I think we should try to summon Saber."

"I guess that's as good a place to start as any," Shirou agreed. His summoning of Saber in the last war had been an accident brought on by the relic Avalon, the sheath of the legendary sword Excalibur, being implanted in him at a young age. In the fifth war both Rin and himself had experience being Saber's master so there was really no better ally for them in the coming war. "Where are we going to do it?"

"We'll wait until the sun goes down then use one of the workshops in the Clock Tower," Rin answered. She then stepped in and leaned forward to let her head rest against Shirou's chest as he gently wrapped his arms around her. "Just when we were about to leave this stuff behind and do our own thing, this has to happen," Rin complained, her frustration and nerves coming through in her voice.

"We'll be fine," Shirou promised. "We've already done this once before, and we were already planning on helping people, so we can just look at this, not as a delay, but another way of starting."

Rin didn't say anything, but let out a quiet laugh at Shirou's optimism and returned his embrace.

The moment was ruined as the door to the storeroom was flung open to reveal an absolutely livid Luvia.

* * *

It was eight at night when Rin decided that the Clock Tower would be empty enough for their purposes. Having more experience navigating through many underground areas of the Clock Tower, Rin lead the way and brought them to a workshop available for student use, that was out of the way enough that they shouldn't have to worry about interruptions.

It was then a matter of drawing up the complex magic circle needed for the summoning. With the two of them working together it took just over an hour, with Rin doing most of the lines while Shirou was relegated to what was essentially colouring in.

"That should do it," Rin declared proudly, wiping a bit of sweat off her forehead with the back of her hand. "You remember the words?" she asked Shirou.

"Yeah, I got them memorised," Shirou confirmed. He still didn't know how he had managed to summon Saber in the fifth war without doing the proper summoning, but thanks to Rin he knew exactly what he was doing this time around.

Rin gave a small nod to say he could begin when ready and stepped away from the circle. Shirou held out a hand towards the circle as he closed his eyes and focused his mind on the image of the sheath he knew was inside him. With a deep breath, he began.

"Heed my words. My will creates your body, and your sword creates my destiny."

Despite the fact that the workshop was underground and completely lacking windows, a light wind began to blow through the room, as the circle began to glow with a dim blue light.

"If you heed the Grail's call and obey my will and reason, then answer me."

The wind and light increased, starting to ruffle clothes and mess with Rin's hair.

"I hereby swear, That I shall be all the good in the world. That I shall defeat all evil in the world."

A gust, originating from the circle, blew out, sending loose pieces of paper flying and toppling a few instruments on various tables as the entire room became bathed in blue light.

"You seven heavens, clad in the three great words of power, come forth from the circle of binding… Guardian of the Scales!"

A loud bang sounded, followed instantly by Shirou shouting in pain, as air the air around the circle was displaced so violently Rin was forced to turn away. A moment later the room was still and the blue light had vanished. Rin quickly surveyed the room, her mind ignoring the various apparatus that had be knocked over or broken, and focusing on Shirou who was on the ground groaning.

"Shirou!" she called out as she ran the few steps it took to reach his side and kneeled down next to him. "Are you alright?"

Shirou raised himself up onto his elbows with a grimace, before using one hand to rub the back of his head. "Did it work?" he asked.

"Idiot!" Rin said with a punch to his arm, her voice not angry but concerned. "What do I keep telling you about looking out for yourself?"

Shirou had the decency to look sheepish as Rin assured herself that he wasn't harmed. "Was that meant to happen? Cause that didn't happen to me last time," Shirou asked with genuine confusion.

Rin pulled her eyes away from Shirou to confirm what she already knew, before turning back to him with a disappointed sigh. "It didn't work," she said, seeing the disappointment settle over Shirou at the words. "You did the chant right so the problem must have been with the circle. We've got plenty of time left to redraw it and try again."

"There was nothing wrong with the circle," a new voice declared.

Rin sprung to her feet, turning to the source of the voice, with a hand raised ready to fire off a Gandr. Shirou followed her lead, summoning the swords Kanshou and Bakuya to his hands, ready to face any threat.

Standing in the entrance to the workshop was Lord El-Melloi II with his hands raised in surrender. "What are you doing here?" Rin demanded.

El-Melloi lowered his hands "Shouldn't I be asking you that? After all, neither of you are part of the Clock Tower anymore. Not to mention I don't think the Vice Director would be happy to know you were trying to summon a Saber servant after she gave you such a generous offer."

Shirou looked to Rin and saw her narrow her eyes, as though calculating her chances of being able to dispose of the lord without being caught.

"Of course, there's no reason she has to know," he continued, leaving Shirou and Rin looking between each other in surprise. "Something is different about this war. If the timing and location weren't a big enough hint, then this should be all the evidence you need. To the best of my knowledge, and I have been researching a lot this past week, the Grail has never before rejected a summoning."

"Why would it reject the summoning?" Shirou asked, struggling to understand the situation.

"The Saber servant you were trying to summon was King Artoria Pendragon, right? I saw her a few times in the fourth war and from what I've been able to find out, it seems that in both fourth and fifth wars, she was the one to destroy the grail."

"Are you going somewhere with this?" Rin asked impatiently.

Lord El-Melloi let out a frustrated sigh, obviously annoyed by the interruption "I was trying to say, that the sudden reappearance of the war, the change of location and now this, it all points to one thing. The Grail wants the ritual completed and after two failed attempts it's getting either angry or desperate."

"So where does that leave us?" Rin demanded, slowly lowering her arm but not her guard.

"The previous offer still stands," answered the lord. "But with an added condition."

The words had Rin tensing up again as Shirou looked between the two more experienced members. "What offer?" he asked.

Now it was El-Melloi's turn to look confused as Rin avoided looking at Shirou, obviously embarrassed at it being revealed that she had been withholding information from him.

When it became clear Rin was going to say anything El-Melloi continued "The offer, as given by the Vice Director, asks for an alliance between Rin Tohsaka and the magus selected by the Mage's Association to win the war. In return, they offer field support and a catalyst to summon a servant." Rin nodded at the familiar terms but the lord wasn't done. "I will be adding to this," as he spoke he removed a black glove from his right hand, revealing the distinctive red tattoo like markings of a command seal. "In exchange for giving control of my Lancer servant to Shirou Emiya, I want you to promise me you will not let the Mage's Association's chosen master win the war."

The two young mages stared wide eyed and slack jawed at the newly revealed master. Rin was the first to recover "Are you serious?! Why are you willing to give away your servant?! And why are you so against the other master winning you would sacrifice your own chance at a wish?"

"I'm not giving away my servant," El-Melloi corrected. "I know who the Association will choose and for reasons you don't need to know, I can't move against them and even if I could, I doubt I would win. However, the two of you working together are a different story. So, what do you say?"

Rin and Shirou looked to each other, back to El-Melloi then back to each other and after a few moments hesitation Shirou tentatively nodded.

"Okay," Rin declared. "You've got yourself a deal."

"I'm glad to hear that," Lord El-Melloi said, sounding relieved. "You'll be needing this," he added as he reached down to a suitcase at his feet that had gone unnoticed and pushed it into Rin's hands.

"And this is?" Rin asked.

"Your catalyst," came the answer.

Unable to hide her excitement, Rin knelt down and unzipped the suitcase only to pause as she opened it up. "Is this some kind of joke?"

"I've no idea what you're talking about," El-Melloi insisted. "With that catalyst, you should be able to summon a great servant. One of a rare breed for whom war is their element."

"It's a set of bagpipes," Rin countered deadpan. "What ancient hero carried bagpipes around?"

"Whoever it was they weren't ancient," Shirou added "These are in far too good condition for that to be the case."

"Well this just keeps on getting better," Rin said as she stood back up and pointed accusingly at Lord El-Melloi. "What kind of half-assed heroic spirit are you trying to saddle me with?"

"I'll leave the full introductions for the man himself to make, but what I can tell you is that he is a hero of the second World War, and we believe he will appear under the Archer class. I hear you have experience dealing with that type of servant."

Rin sighed, clearly unimpressed by the situation "We've already agreed so I suppose it's a bit late to back out now." With that said she got to work re-establishing the magic circle.

As she worked Shirou went up to their new ally, looking up into the eyes of the taller man he began to speak "We're trusting you on this, but don't think that means I fully trust you. Only people with a strong wish can compete in the Grail Wars, the sort of wish that doesn't go away easily. So, if I start to think that you're going to betray us or put Rin in danger, I will kill you."

Lord El-Melloi matched Shirou's resolute gaze with an almost bored expression before eventually answering him "You're the one who killed Gilgamesh right?"

When Shirou nodded he continued "He killed a friend of mine, so as thanks for avenging him, I give you my word I shall not betray your trust," for the first time that night, and for the first time in Shirou's limited interactions with the senior magus, Lord El-Melloi allowed a tiny smile to grace his features.

Shirou took a moment to study the Lord in front of him. Finding no signs of deceit, he gave a satisfied nod, then walked off to help Rin.

It was half an hour later when the circle was fully repaired and without wasting any time, Rin placed the bagpipes in the middle of the circle and began the summoning.

"Heed my words. My will creates your body, and your sword creates my destiny."

A light wind began to blow through the room, as the circle began to glow with a dim red light.

"If you heed the Grail's call and obey my will and reason, then answer me."

Just like before the wind and light increased as the chant progressed.

"I hereby swear, That I shall be all the good in the world. That I shall defeat all evil in the world."

The wind increased to the point that those in the room were bracing themselves against the force while the light had reached a point where it was hard to look at

"You seven heavens, clad in the three great words of power, come forth from the circle of binding… Guardian of the Scales!"

A final burst of light and gust of wind filled the room, causing all three occupants to shield their faces. When they looked back to the circle, it was to see a new figure standing there. True to Lord El-Melloi's words, the man was wearing the brown combat fatigues that were standard for British soldiers during the second World War, however over that he wore a brilliant red coat the flapped around in the after effects of the last gust. Judging from the man's face you would peg him at being only a few years older than Shirou and Rin, with his neatly slicked back hair at odds with his mischievous eyes.

After taking a moment to survey the three magi, the newly summoned servant snapped a salute and with all the dignity of a soldier on parade announced "Lieutenant-Colonel John Malcolm Thorpe Fleming Churchill, Archer class, at your service." Only for the effect to be ruined as he finished his introduction with a smirk.

* * *

 **AN: If you liked, noticed any mistakes, or think there's something I should know about going forward, please don't hesitate to let me know. Constructive criticism is always appreciated.**


	2. New Allies

**AN: So the first chapter got a strong enough response that I'm committing to following through with this story. A big thank you to those who put in the time to leave a review, especially those who helped me clarify a few lore things and mentioned other fics that could make a useful reference.**

 **Constructive criticism is always appreciated, especially when writing for a series with such dense lore.**

 **Editor/Beta reader: Korzark**

* * *

"So just to clarify, we're going to be meeting another Master and Servant combo today and I'm not meant to kill them?" Archer asked, sounding sceptical as he lounged in one of the dining room chairs.

Rin took a break from packing luggage into a suitcase to answer his question "Yes, that's right. I'm not sure who it is the Clock Tower has chosen, but we have joined into an alliance with them, so trying to kill them on sight isn't likely to go down well."

It was the morning after the summoning and Rin was packing up whatever she thought they may need for the war, as Lord El-Melloi had alerted them they would be setting off for the Grail's new location this afternoon.

Shirou had originally been helping with the packing, before being called away by El-Melloi to discuss the details of his new servant. While Lancer now answered to Shirou, as far as the Clock Tower knew the servant still belonged to the head of the El-Melloi family, and the lord had deemed it convenient for them to keep thinking such.

"You already told me not to go after Lancer or his master, totally understandable given your relationship," Archer continued. "I'm just hoping that this won't become a bit of a pattern through the upcoming war. After all, you can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs."

"I'm well aware of the situation, as unlike a certain someone, this isn't my first grail war," Rin replied with a pointed look at Archer.

"When you put it like that, it really does make it sound like I'm preaching to the choir," Archer conceded.

"If it really bothers you that much, I have no problem guaranteeing that the only person in this war that I'm giving a permanent 'no killing' order on is Shirou. Survive long enough and everyone else is fair game, including Lancer and whoever we meet today," Rin said as she went back to packing.

"Well now that sounds more like it," Archer replied with a smile.

It was at this moment when a lull had appeared in their conversation, that Shirou made his return. "How did the meeting go?" Rin asked, eager to hear what had come up.

"It went alright," Shirou said before admitting "though I found out something that's going to make the war a bit more difficult for us."

Rin put down the shirt she was holding and turned to give Shirou her full attention.

"Turns out you weren't the only to have a," Shirou paused as he searched for the right words "lesser known hero forced into your service. No offence," the last being directed at Archer.

"Some taken," the war hero replied.

Ignoring Archer, Shirou continued "Turns out Lord El-Melloi also had his servant chosen for him. They're from way back apparently, El-Melloi said something about them being from the Age of Gods."

This piqued Rin's interest, as some of the most powerful heroes were from this time, with Gilgamesh and Heracles being prime examples. "Unfortunately, they're from an African tribe so their legend is largely unknown."

Rin now understood why Shirou had said this was going to make things difficult going forward. A hero's fame played a large role in how powerful they are when summoned. So, if stories of someone's legend were barely known outside a certain tribe, then they would be at a serious disadvantage against those with global renown.

"So, you're telling us that the Mage's Association chose Lancer and myself, not to be partners with whatever Servant their Master summons, but to be cannon fodder while their chosen one steps over us to victory?" Archer asked.

"It certainly seems like it," Rin answered, feeling annoyed but not surprised that the Mage's Association would use such tactics. Turning to her Servant she continued "Sorry Archer, but you seemed to have drawn the short stra-" she stopped mid-sentence as she looked at Archer. She had expected him to be angry or frustrated at the reveal that he had been chosen because someone had decided he was easily disposable.

Instead he was on his feet with a wide grin on his face. "This war just got a whole lot more interesting," he announced in a voice full of excitement. "So, tell me Master, when are we meeting this poor fool that dares think so little of us?"

* * *

Shirou and Rin stepped out of the limousine that had been sent for them, and onto a private airfield, with Archer following closely behind in spirit form. A solitary private jet waited on the runway with its stairs lowered. By the stairs, Lord El-Melloi II waited with a girl Rin didn't recognise, dressed in an assortment of blacks and greys, with a grey hood covering her head and obscuring most of her face.

As they approached, Archer whispered into Rin's ear "Lancer's with him and I can sense another servant inside." Lancer's position was of no surprise as it was part of the plan to keep Shirou's status as master a secret for as long as possible, while the knowledge of a third Servant's presence meant she could expect the third master to already be on board.

"Glad you could make it," the lord declared as they drew close. The statement seemed a bit out of place coming from the lord, given his perpetual frown and flat tone of voice, but Rin made no comment on it. "To strengthen your cover of bringing Shirou along due to his position as your apprentice, I've brought my own along as well," El-Melloi continued, directing his words to Rin. "Rin Tohsaka, Shirou Emiya, meet Gray."

As he finished his words he gestured to girl the beside him, who looked up tentatively and pulled back her hood slightly, revealing more of her face. What Rin saw caused her breath to catch and her eyes to widen.

With the exception of her grey hair, the girl bore a striking resemblance to Artoria Pendragon, the heroic spirit that had loyally served both Shirou and herself as Saber during the last Holy Grail War.

"If you two are done staring, the third Master is already onboard, and I too would like to get going," El-Melloi said breaking the silence that had descended on the group, and snapping Rin out of the momentary trance she had fallen into. A quick glance at Shirou revealed he had reacted similarly, if his wide-eyed expression was anything to go off.

She looked back at Gray to see her visibly nervous with the attention she was receiving as she pulled her hood back up to hide her face. Seeing a total lack of the regal confidence Saber had carried herself with, hammered home to Rin that, despite how she looked, she was not the woman she had known.

With no reason to delay, she made her way up the stairs with Shirou following behind her as she made her way onto the plane. The inside of the plane was luxurious to the point of being comparable to Luvia's overly extravagant mansion. A leather couch went along one side with two chairs set up facing each other on the other side, and further back were more sets of the same chairs.

But what really caught her attention and made her feel immediately uneasy, was the girl sitting on the couch. Something about the way she sat there with such self-assured confidence and an amused smile made the couch seem more like a throne and her the Queen of the realm.

It took her a moment but with the girl's blond hair and red eyes, she realised that the reason for her unease was that the girl reminded her of Gilgamesh. The only thing that broke the image of a young and female Gilgamesh, apart from her pale skin, was her attire of a smart, dark blue coat, with Black leggings emerging from underneath, that didn't seem nearly flashy enough for the King of Heroes.

As Rin made her way further in, the girls red eyes tracked them, the amused smile never leaving her face. Rin sat down on the chair across from the couch that was furthest from the door and Shirou stood next to her facing the girl on the couch. El-Melloi sat down in the chair opposite Rin with Gray standing next to her teacher just as Shirou was doing with her.

"Aren't you going to introduce us?" Despite the blond girl looking at Rin as she spoke, it was clear the question, no, the command was directed to the Lord.

As Rin turned in her seat to face the girl, she couldn't help but think that she had intentionally chosen the couch, so that Lord El-Melloi and herself would be forced to turn every time they wanted to speak to her. The idea seemed childish and petty, but the way the girl, clearly younger than herself, was making demands of a Lord of the Clock Tower made her think she might just be right.

With a quiet growl, El-Melloi began the introductions "Rin Tohsaka, Shirou Emiya, this is-"

"Reines El-Melloi Archisorte," Rin cut-in. "Who, despite not being the one to hold the title of Lord El-Melloi, is in fact the head of the El-Melloi family, one of the twelve great families of the Clock Tower."

Reines smile widened "Someone's done their homework, and you're absolutely right about me being the head, however as I'm not yet of age, I've been having my brother hold the position for me."

Rin could see Shirou out of the corner of her eye doing a double-take at the news, and she could easily imagine him looking between Lord El-Melloi and Reines, trying to see the resemblance. Reines clearly saw this as well, for she leaned in their direction and stage whispered "He's adopted."

Adopted or not, the Lord clearly did not find humour in her mockery, as evidenced by the glare he sent in her direction.

"I have to admit I'm surprised," Rin said, keeping her attention on Reines "I'd heard the El-Mellois fell on hard times after the fourth war. I certainly didn't expect you to have something like this available to you."

The anger that flashed across Reines' face was so brief Rin thought she might have imagined it "Unfortunately this plane does not belong to house El-Melloi. However, the Barthomeloi family generously saw fit to lend us the use of it."

It was highly unusual for two members of the same family to be fighting in the same war, Rin thought to herself, but with the mention of the Barthomeloi family, arguably the most powerful of the 12 great families that governed the Clock Tower with the Vice-Director as its head, the pieces were starting to come together.

When the fourth Grail War ended with the head of the El-Melloi family dead, a power vacuum had naturally ensued. It was during this time that rival and branch families made off with many of the El-Melloi's assets, leaving them with precious little to their name. While the new Lord El-Melloi II had no doubt worked hard to try bring the family back, it wasn't hard to see why they would leap at the potential benefits of winning a Grail War.

But with the inclusion of the Barthomeloi family, things got political. Within the Clock Tower there were three main factions, the conservatives, the reformists and those that were neutral, with the Barthomeloi family being the head of the conservatives and the El-Mellois operating under them.

However, while the El-Mellois might historically be conservatives, the new Lord El-Melloi was not, leaning more towards reformist or neutral.

With his rising fame, Rin deduced, it would make sense for the Barthomelois to use the opportunity to participate in a Grail War, as a way to place the El-Mellois in debt to them, and in doing so secure the loyalty of the new lord.

"Now that we've introduced ourselves, I believe there are a few others that need to be introduced. What do you think Saber?" On Reines' command, her Servant materialised in the middle of the room. Clad in a brilliant bronze breastplate over a simple red tunic and a Corinthian helmet over their face, the figure cut an imposing sight. The Servant then raised the helmet off their head, letting long dark hair fall free from the helmet and cascade down her back as her beautiful face was revealed to all those present.

Taking advantage of everyone's momentary awe, Saber spoke up "My name is Penthesilea, Queen of the Amazons."

Rin was surprised, to say the least, by the sudden reveal. In the Holy Grail Wars, it was practically unheard of to immediately reveal your identity. But that wasn't all, one of the biggest advantages Reines had had going into this war was the knowledge of her allies' servants, while her own remained a mystery. By doing this she was essentially levelling the playing field.

While some might be naive enough to think of this as a sign of goodwill, Rin took one look at her smile and saw the action for what it truly was.

It was psychological warfare.

This was her saying that knowing who you're facing, will not improve your chances of victory. And with a hero as powerful as an Amazonian Queen, she was well justified in that belief.

"Lancer, reveal yourself," Lord El-Melloi commanded. The air next to Gray shimmered, causing the girl to jump, and a moment later Lancer was there.

In stark contrast to the heavily armoured Saber, Lancer was bare chested revealing an intricate set of blue tattoos that stood out against his black skin. The only thing covering his face was another set of the same tattoos, accompanied by dreadlocks that ran down past his shoulders. A rough cape of the same blue covered his back, while a lion's mane covered his shoulders. Instead of pants he had a blue sheet wrapped and tied securely around his waist.

Lancer turned to face the warrior queen, who he stood half a head above, and announced "I am Enkai, of the Maasai."

Saber nodded in acknowledgement, then the two Servants turned in unison to look at her. With no point hiding her servant as Lord El-Melloi, and undoubtedly Reines as well, already knew his identity, Rin called out "Archer."

She didn't turn to watch his appearance, but could hear the air being displaced as he took on a physical form. "Hey guys, I'm Jack and I'm a local."

Rin's eyes widened in disbelief, as she struggled to believe that Archer had introduced himself so casually, and judging from Lancer and Saber's baffled expressions, they felt the same. Either mistaking the looks on their faces as something else or intentionally making a mockery of the situation, Archer continued "By local I mean local to England, not London specifically, I just wanted to make that clear."

Rin felt like she was going to die from embarrassment, but as both Masters and Servants alike looked to her expectantly for some explanation, she steeled herself and said "Don't look at me, I'm not the one who chose this guy's catalyst."

"I think that's enough for introductions," Lord El-Melloi said with a scowl in Archer's direction. "The plane will be taking off soon and you might want to get comfortable, it's an eleven-hour flight."

"Eleven?" Rin asked, following the lord's example and doing her best to ignore what just happened. "I thought it would be longer."

"It would be if we were heading straight to the Grail," Lord El-Melloi explained. "But as it happens we're making a stop somewhere along the way."

"Where?" Shirou asked, sounding just as suspicious as she felt.

Despite the question being directed at the lord, it was Reines who answered "I'm surprised you haven't told them yet brother. Tell me you two, how long has it been since you saw your old friends, the Matous?"

* * *

The flight had been long, made even more so by Shirou's excitement to see his old home and friends again, and now that he was here, he couldn't help the feeling of nostalgia rising in him as he drove the rental car through the streets.

As he drove out of the city centre and towards the suburbs, he reached over and gently shook his passenger awake.

"Rin, we can see your house from here," he announced as Rin woke from her nap. True to his word, standing proud atop a large hill was the Tohsaka residence.

"I wonder how it's held up?" Rin thought out loud as she looked up at her old home.

"We could stop by there first if you want?" SHirou offered. "It's near enough to Sakura's place that we wouldn't be going out of our way."

Rin thought quietly on the offer before finally answering "No. We've got a job to do here, let's just get that done."

Shirou didn't say anything, just nodding in acceptance. He understood her reluctance to go back there. When his father had died, Taiga had always been there for him and because of that, despite the large home he had inherited, he never felt lonely. Rin hadn't had that privilege and for many years before the war she had lived alone in the dark house on the hill.

She was also right about their goal in Fuyuki City taking priority of a trip down memory lane. They were to offer an alliance to the Matou family, should they have already decided to participate in the war. That was their official goal, unofficially Rin and Shirou were going to try to convince Sakura and Shinji not to take part in the war, or more realistically stop their family from forcing them to participate.

They had been able to convince the El-Mellois that it would be best to just send the two of them to the Matou's. Lord El-Melloi had agreed, saying something about having other business to take care of and Reines, with no knowledge of the city and nothing else to do went with him.

However, as Shirou pulled up outside the Matou mansion, he started to think that maybe the extra people might have been useful.

The front gates of the Matou residence had been torn from their hinges and lay crumpled on the ground just inside the property's walls, with the only thing blocking entrance being a strip of yellow police tape.

There was no doubt in Shirou's mind that this had been done by either a mage or a heroic spirit, after all, the Matou residence, like any other mage's workshop or home, would've had a bounded field, a magical barrier capable of keeping out all but the more powerful or skilled intruders. And there was no way that this attack happening so close to the start of a new Grail War was a coincidence.

One look at Rin confirmed she was thinking the same thing, and without a word being said, the two climbed out of the car and moved to investigate the house. They were less than two meters away from the police tape when a voice called to the from the street.

"Shirou Emiya?"

Shirou turned on the spot, ready in case whoever called out was an enemy. This was fortunately not the case and the one looking at him from the street was none other than Issei Ryuudou, Shirou's best friend from high school.

"Issei," Shirou greeted with a smile as he let himself relax. His old friend hadn't changed much since school with his black hair neatly combed and wire frame glasses perched high on his nose. The only real difference was that instead of the school uniform, the former student council president now wore a button up dress shirt and black trousers.

"Do you know what happened here?" Shirou asked as walked up to Issei.

The question brought a look of confusion to Issei's face "You don't know? Forgive me, I assumed Ms Fujimura must have gotten in contact with you and that's why you were here at all."

"Sorry, but no such luck," Rin said as she moved to stand next to Shirou. "We were just taking a break from our studies in London and decided to come back to visit."

The scowl Issei directed at Rin reminded Shirou how, for as long as he had known Issei, the boy had nothing but disdain for Rin, and believed Shirou's relationship with her was a result of her corrupting him. So it came as no surprise when Issei started talking again, that he ignored Rin and directed his words to Shirou.

"While it's obvious enough from the damage here that the house was attacked, Shinji would probably be able to explain the details better as he was there when it happened. I was actually already on my way to visit him in the hospital if you would like to join me?"

"Of course," Shirou replied "Is Shinji ok?"

"He's recovering just fine, his arm was broken when he tried fighting back against the attackers" Issei answered matter of factly. "He actually got off the easiest."

A cold feeling of dread spread through Shirou's body "Issei, what happened to Sakura?"

It was impossible to ignore how Issei's stoic professionalism fell as he broke eye contact with Shirou and said in a voice that was noticeably quieter "I think it would be better if Shinji-"

"Issei," Shirou warned.

Silence hung in the air between the trio as Shirou watched Issei struggle to find the right words to say, before giving up with a sigh "I'm sorry Shirou, I know you were close with Sakura, and there's no easy way to say this." Shirou felt his heart stop beating as the sense of dread grew in him.

Issei finally brought his eyes up to make contact with Shirou's, a tortured expression on his face, as though it physically pained him to say what he was about to say. "The people that attacked the Matou's, they killed Sakura and Shinji's grandfather and kidnapped Sakura."

* * *

 **AN: So the Servants. I know I said OC servants, and some of you might be complaining about me breaking that rule as early as the second chapter as Penthesilea shows up in Grand Order, but you may have also noticed that the Penthesilea I described looks nothing like Grand Order Penthesilea, so just keep reading to see what's going on there.**

 **As for Lancer, his origin will be explained later on, so just do me a favour and don't try googling him as I'm going to be taking quite a lot of liberties with his origin.**

 **Next chapter: New Enemies**


	3. New Enemies

**AN: Would have liked to have this done earlier but life happens. To address some questions, yes I am aware that killing Zouken requires someone that is familiar with exorcisms. How many teams will there be? You'll have to wait and see, but I can say that this won't be going the way of a Great Grail War.  
** **Without further delay, here's the chapter.**

* * *

 **Beta reader/editor: Korzark**

* * *

Reines sat staring out the passenger side window, with her chin resting on her palm and a bored expression on her face, as her adoptive brother drove through the streets of Fuyuki City.

"How much longer is this going to take?" she asked, breaking the silence in the car.

"We'll be arriving soon," Lord El-Melloi promised. "We're already in Miyama."

Reines was about to make a retort about how telling her they were in Miyama meant nothing when she didn't know the local geography, but paused when she made a realisation. Was that excitement she had heard in her brother's voice?

"You still haven't told me where we're going," she hinted.

"I would also like to know, if that's okay," Gray said quietly from the back seat.

"We're going to be visiting some family of mine," the lord informed.

Reines didn't bother to hide the surprise on her face or in her voice."I do apologise if this seems a bit blunt, but I was under the assumption that all of your birth family was English and, well… dead. So, what do mean when you saying you're visiting family in Japan?" Reines asked.

"You're right on both accounts," he answered. "However, when I was fighting in the fourth Holy Grail War, I needed a place to stay and had no money to afford a hotel. To deal with this problem I found a western family living by themselves, and used hypnosis to convince them I was their grandson who had come to visit."

"I'm surprised, I never took you for such a manipulator," Reines commented with an amused smile.

Lord El-Melloi took his eyes of the road for a moment to glare at her before continuing "I was a different person back then," he reasoned, but she could hear the guilt in his voice.

"They are good people and I've been meaning to visit them for some time. When we get there, it is important for you two to know that as far as they know, my name is Waver Mackenzie. I called ahead so they are expecting us, if you're asked, I'm a professor of anthropology at the University of London and you two are my students and are accompanying me on a research trip."

"Ooh, a cover story. This sounds like fun," Reines said with a smile.

Reines spent the rest of the trip, only a few minutes, quizzing 'Professor Mackenzie' on their backstory, so by the time they arrived she was confident she could pull off the ruse if she wanted to. _"But where was the fun in that?"_ she thought to herself as they walked up to the door. The house itself was unremarkable in her opinion, a simple, two story house with a lot of wood panelling.

Waver led the three of them up onto the porch, but paused in front of the wooden door.

"Is something wrong?" Reines asked, she would admit she was curious to meet these people that her brother held in such high regard, and that curiosity was starting to make her impatient.

"It's been a long time since they've seen me. I've changed a lot from the kid they knew me as, a part of me wonders if they'll even recognise me," he answered.

The honesty of his response surprised her and only increased her eagerness to meet the people inside, and when Waver still hesitated to knock, she darted her hand forward and quickly knocked on the door. The look of horror on her brother's face was a beautiful thing that had her smiling ear-to-ear.

Before either could compose themselves the door swung open, revealing an elderly woman with blue eyes and grey hair with a few strands of light brown.

"Waver!" the woman exclaimed in joy as she embraced him, Waver froze awkwardly, much to Reines' delight, before relaxing and hugging her back. After a few moments the woman released Waver and turned to her "You must be Reines, you're exactly as Waver described you."

Reines held out her hand to be shaken as she started to say "A pleasure to me-" only for her words, and her thoughts on how her brother might have described her, to be cut off as the woman ignored the offered hand and wrapped her in an embrace just like she had done to Waver.

Not use to such open displays of affection, the gesture left her spluttering and red in the face even when the woman released her. "I'm Martha, I'm so happy to finally meet you."

Reines could only dumbly nod in response as Martha moved on to repeat the greeting to Gray, while her brain tried to reset after the sudden surprise.

"Is that them, Martha?" A voice called from inside.

"Hey grandpa, I'm back," Waver called back, surprising Reines with how relaxed he sounded. A moment later an elderly man, with completely white hair and an equally white full beard came into view. The man walked with a wooden cane, so instead of waiting for him, Waver moved forward to gently embrace the man who happily returned the gesture.

"You've grown since the last time I saw you," the man commented as the two separated.

"Well it has been a while since I was here last," Waver reasoned.

"Too long," the man agreed. "You must be tired from your flight, come inside, your room is just as you left it."

With a smile, Waver moved further inside the house, leaving the way open for Reines to move forward. She approached the man that her brother had happily called grandpa. As she got closer she decided to forgo the formal introduction she had tried with Martha and stick to a simple "Hello."

"Hello," the man kindly replied. "I take it you're Reines?" She nodded in response. "Nice to meet you, my name's Glen. I've been looking forward to meeting the girl my grandson says is like a younger sister to him." Much to Reines relief, Glen did not go for a hug and simply extended a hand for her to shake.

She accepted the hand with a smile "I've also been eager to meet you," she said "After all someone who the Professor holds in such high regard must certainly be an impressive man."

Her statement earned a laugh from Glen "I'm afraid you might end up a little disappointed, I'm nothing but an old man who lived a simple life."

As Reines followed Waver into the house, she decide to take Glen's words with a grain of salt until she had seen enough of him to form her own opinion.

Reines could only describe the inside of the house as homey. The place was filled with warm light, with colourful decorations and souvenirs of a life well spent. It had such a lived-in feel to it that it made her own home feel sterile in comparison.

"You can put you bags in Waver's room" Marth said, interrupting her inspection of the dining room. The woman's smile could only be described as beaming and hadn't let up since she opened the door. It was honestly starting to unnerve Reines.

"Come on, I'll show you where it is," Waver added, gesturing for her to follow him up a flight of stairs.

Reines followed, dragging a silver suitcase behind her. The suitcase didn't actually contain any luggage as it was in fact the disguised form of her liquid metal golem, Trimmau, that functioned as both her maid and bodyguard. Nonetheless, when they arrived in her brother's old room, she put the case down by the foot of the bed.

Taking the opportunity presented to her, Reines looked around the room and it was… confusing. There were certain things that were exactly what she would expect of her brother, like stacks of books ranging from classical literature to magic, but then there was also thing that most definitely weren't his. For example, the seven volumes of an encyclopedia on combat planes, with a dozen more books on aircraft, there was even posters of fighter jets, despite that, to the best of her knowledge, he had never even had an interest in planes.

She looked to her brother to see him surveying the room with an expression that could only be considered nostalgic.

"You didn't come back to London for three years after the fourth war ended. I take it you spent that time here?" Reines asked, surprising Lord El-Melloi with the sudden conversation.

"Some of it," he answered. "I spent a lot of that time travelling the world, but of course travelling takes money, so I stayed here until I had earned enough."

"Did that money making include a sudden interest in planes?"

El-Melloi looked confused for a moment before seemingly remembering the details of the room, as he made an expression that could only be described as 'oh right that'. "Those aren't actually mine, they belonged to my friend Iskandar," he explained.

The name took, what Reines considered, an embarrassingly long amount of time to register "Oh, you mean you're Rider servant, Alexander the Great."

"No," he corrected. "I meant exactly what I said."

Before the conversation could continue, the Lord's phone began to ring and he stepped away to answer it, leaving Reines to her thoughts.

She was aware of the strong attachment her brother had had with his servant, and she understood the benefits of a close bond and sense of trust between master and servant. But the idea of a summoned servant being considered a friend before a familiar? That just didn't make sense. 'Because you don't have friends' a traitorous part of her mind suggested. Before she could continue to follow that train of thought, her brother returned and his usual sour expression had returned.

"Something's come up with Shirou and Rin. I'll explain things to you when I have all the information, but for now I have to meet them at the hospital," he quickly explained before exiting, leaving her alone in the bedroom.

She stood there for a few minutes silently mulling over her thoughts before finally making a decision. "Saber?" Reines asked the air, and a moment later her servant was standing in front of her.

"Is there something you need master?" the warrior Queen asked.

Reines didn't answer immediately, instead walking over and sitting down on the bed. "Tell me about yourself."

"Very well. I'm a Saber, so naturally I specialise in close combat, that said I can-" the woman started before being cut-off.

"That's not what I'm talking about," Reines said, her expression contemplative. "I want you to tell me your likes and dislikes, that sort of thing,"

Saber seemed surprised by the request "Is this about what you're brother said?"

"I was thinking there might be some wisdom in his words," Reines reasoned. "After all, despite still being a student, not to mention from a poor bloodline, his servant made it to the last night of his war. Yet my uncle, a famous and talented magus from a powerful bloodline, lost his servant and was murdered much earlier."

Saber nodded in understanding, dispelling her armour and dropping her serious expression, leaving her in a simple red tunic and a barely visible smile. She took a seat next to Reines on the bed and turned to give the smaller girl her full attention. "How about I tell you about my home, Themiscyra?"

* * *

Shirou ended his call with Lord El-Melloi and put his phone away before joining Rin outside Shinji's room. The two had made the excuse that they were here as part of a university project, and had to contact their supervisor to let them know they wouldn't be making it to a roll call, leaving them free to discuss magus matters while Issei had gone on inside.

"He's on his way over," Shirou reported. "He also said we shouldn't wait till he gets here to question him."

"How are we gonna handle this?" Rin asked, a distracted look on her face.

Shirou was a little surprised by the question as Rin usually had at least some sort of plan. Though admittedly his past friendship with Shinji did give him better insight, into how to deal with the guy. Before answering, Shirou made a quick check to make sure no one was within earshot.

"I don't think we'll have a problem getting him to talk. Shinji's always loved to run his mouth and I doubt that's changed since we last saw him. The problem is Issei," Shirou stated calmly. "For all his flaws, Shinji knows better than to talk mage stuff in front of a non-magus, so we have to get Issei out of the room."

All of Rin's other thoughts seemed to get pushed aside as she focused on him. "Having you talk to Shinji would be best, but if I ask Issei to leave there's no way he'll listen. His grudge against me seems to be every bit as strong as it was back in high school."

Already knowing what she was going to ask, Shirou spoke up "Don't worry, I'll take care of Issei. Though are you sure you're going to be alright in there with Shinji?"

"It's cute that you're so worried about me," Rin teased with a smirk. When Shirou didn't react except to keep looking at her expectantly, she relented with a sigh. "I'll be fine. He's got no magic and a broken arm, the worst he can do is creep me out. Not to mention that if he does decide he doesn't want to talk, I can just play the 'I saved your life' card."

"It's not just that," Shirou insisted. "You've been really distracted ever since the Matou's. Are you alright?"

Rin quickly looked around, just like Shirou had earlier, to make sure they were still alone. "Something about this doesn't make sense. As a Matou, Sakura has priority if she wants to participate, so she's obviously someone to keep an eye on, but why kidnap her? And why just her? If they wanted to prevent the Matou's participating, why didn't they just kill them all? They killed Sakura's Grandfather so they're obviously not against murder.  
"I suppose there's the possibility they want her to act as a master and plan on controlling her, but I don't think I need to explain why trying to control someone with something as powerful as a heroic spirit is a bad idea. And if that was their plan, why not kidnap Shinji as well?" As Rin ended her rant, she stepped close to Shirou and leaned forward to rest her head on his chest.

"The war hasn't even started yet and things are already looking a mess," she mumbled into Shirou's shirt as she felt his arm wrap around her in a comforting embrace.

"Don't worry, we're both a lot stronger and a lot smarter than we were last time. We'll make it out of this, and we'll find whoever took Sakura," Shirou promised.

"I'll hold you to that," Rin said as she pushed away from Shirou, looking a lot more composed now that she had gotten her thoughts off her chest. "Now let's go inside before Issei starts getting suspicious."

Shinji's room contained six identical beds, but fortunately for them, Shinji's was the only one occupied. Sat up in his bed with one arm in a cast and sling, Shinji seemed to be making polite, albeit uninterested, conversation with Issei.

As Rin and Shirou approached the bed, both Issei and Shinji switched their attention to the newcomers, with Issei being visibly relieved at the prospect of someone to take over the conversation. Despite the two having a mutual friend in Shirou, they had never gotten along and Rin had no doubt Issei's visit was brought about by a sense of duty, rather than any actual concern for Shinji.

Shinji on the other hand just seemed surprised by their arrival.

"Hey Shinji," Shirou greeted with a smile. "You look surprised. Didn't Issei mention we were here?"

"It didn't come up," Shinji replied dumbly, as his eyes kept switching between Issei and the new arrivals. It was obvious he had something he wanted to say, but as Shirou predicted, he held off in front of Issei.

"That's no problem, in fact, I even know how he can make up for forgetting that," Shirou said as he looked at Issei, who at least had the decency to look a bit guilty for not letting Shinji know his 'friends' had arrived. "There's a takeout place just around the corner, how about we get Shinji something to eat that isn't hospital food?" Without leaving room for argument, Shirou grabbed Issei's arm and half-dragged the poor guy out the room.

'He never was one for subtlety,' Rin thought to herself as she watched them disappear out the door. A part of her marvelled at how Shirou had grown since the last war, for she knew the Shirou of five years ago would not be so calm. He would be restless and relentless in his pursuit of those that had put his friends in danger, and while she knew that protective instinct was still there, he now controlled it, instead of the other way around.

Turning back to her objective, Rin opened her mouth to start their conversation but Shinji beat her to the punch.

"It was the Einzberns."

The suddenness of it caught Rin off guard but she quickly recovered "How can you be sure?"

"Because right before they left with my sister, the bastard said 'The Einzberns thank your family for their contributions to the Grail, but we no longer have any need of your services,'" Shinji spat out bitterly.

"Even then," Rin argued "how do you know it wasn't just someone trying to frame them?"

"Because even I can tell the difference between some cheap, mass produced piece of crap and a homunculus made by a master alchemist like the Einzberns, and that's exactly what it was that broke down the gate and shattered my arm!"

"Wait, you're telling me a homunculus did that? But the gate was completely wrecked! I get that a homunculus can be stronger than a human, but that strong?"

"Well normally a homeroom teacher isn't able to kill a heroic spirit in a direct fight, but we both know there are ways around such limits."

The reference to Rider's death in the fifth war allowed Rin to quickly connect the dots in regards to what Shinji was saying.

"Are you saying they summoned a Caster servant?" Rin said, the words coming out as barely more than a whisper. She had seen and felt first hand what their teacher, Mr Kazuki, was capable of when aided by Caster. To imagine a similar buff applied to someone who already exceeded human ability was a terrifying thought. Shinji nodded solemnly.

"That's what killed my Grandfather. I didn't think he even could be killed, but this Caster servant took one look at him and," Shinji snapped his fingers "it was over just like that."

"Shinji I'm sure your Grandfather was a great magus, but anyone going up against a Caster-"

"How much do you know about my Grandfather?"

Rin stayed silent as she had no answer worth giving.

"My 'Grandfather', Zouken Matou, is a lot older than you think. And I don't mean that as in him being twenty or thirty years older than he looks, I mean his age is something in the five-hundreds. That's what I mean when I say 'I didn't think he even could be killed'. Yet Caster killed him in an instant."

Rin crossed her arms as she processed what it meant for a magus to have lived so long. The power of their magecraft, not to mention the skill and experience derived from surviving the cutthroat world of mages, would make for a terrifying opponent.

She tried to think of any legendary heroes that would be capable of such a feat, but despite history and folklore having no end of brave knights that slew evil wizards, she couldn't recall any mage known for killing other mages. However Shinji wasn't done "This all begs the question, What the hell is a servant doing in Fuyuki only five years after the last war?"

Knowing Shinji already knew the answer and was just looking for confirmation, Rin answered "The sixth Grail War is about to begin."

Shinji seemed to withdraw a bit at the words, no doubt remembering the horrors he had experienced at the hands of Gilgamesh in the last war. When he spoke again his voice was a lot more subdued. "Chances are the Einzberns have set themselves up in that manor again, I heard they used it in the fourth war as well so it seems to be a favourite spot for them. If you and Shirou already have servants-"

"No," Rin refuted calmly.

Her words visibly shocked Shinji "What do mean no?"

"I mean the Einzberns won't be in there, so attacking the place would be pointless," Rin explained.

"How would you know that?!"

"Because the war's not in Fuyuki City, and I doubt your sister's still here either." Shinji slumped in stunned silence at the words.

The silence persisted for several seconds before Shinji spoke up "Where?"

Rin considered how to answer for a few moments before answering "That's not important. All you need to know is that Shirou and I are going to bring Sakura back."

Her answer didn't sit well with him if the expression of rage on his face was anything to go by "What the hell Tohsaka?! I give you all that information on your enemy and you don't even have the decency to tell me where the war is?!"

Unfazed by his tantrum, Rin coldly replied "This is a battle between mages, and you have no aptitude for magic, and let's not forget about your broken arm. You only survived last time because I saved your life, so let me make one thing clear; if you ignore my warnings and chase after us anyway, I won't spare your life again."

"You say that, but I bet you don't even know why they took Sakura, do you?"

"We have some theories," Rin replied confidently.

Shinji fixed her with a fierce glare and opened his mouth to speak.

Only for the sound of the door opening to cut him off and break the tense air in the room. "We're back," Shirou called from the entrance as Issei followed him while carrying a couple plastic bags. As the got closer Shirou continued "Hey Rin, I just got a text from our teacher, do you mind going down to the entrance to meet him?"

"No problem," she replied casually, as though the tense conversation she just finished had never happened. She quickly made her way out of the room, with the last sound she heard from it being Shirou starting up an easy conversation between the three.

* * *

Sakura looked around her new room for what felt like the hundredth time. It was by no means an ugly or uncomfortable room, in fact it was more luxurious than her bedroom back at the Matou household, but just like with Matou's, it was nothing more than a fancy cell.

She had already tried opening both the door and the windows, only to find them locked. Even if she did make it out of the room she doubted it would do her any good, as the view from the windows revealed only vast stretches of greenery, of a type that was nothing like anything she had seen around Fuyuki.

As she tried to think back the last thing she could remember before waking up here was, being on her way to call Shinji for dinner, only for the front door to explode inwards and a man in a hooded white robe to step through. After that everything faded to black and she had woken up here. Her initial panic had worn of within a few minutes, giving way to a strong feeling of anxiety. Two hours later she was starting to get bored.

The room had no books, magazines or a television, just the double bed she had woken up on, a small table near one of the windows and two couches facing each other just in front of the bed, where she was currently sitting. Just as she was about to walk around the room for the umpteenth time, someone knocked on the door.

She remained silent, partially in surprise at the sudden sound, partially because she was afraid of what might be waiting behind the door. Another part of her still, conditioned from her years with the Matous expected the knock to be nothing more than a formality and for the person knocking to invite themselves in. Yet to her continued surprise, after a several seconds of silence the knock came again, this time accompanied by a polite voice.

"Ms Matou? Are you awake?"

"Yes, I'm up," She replied cautiously as she stood up from the bed.

"Do you mind if I come in? I have a few things I would like to discuss with you," the voice said in the same polite tone as before. Sakura didn't know what she had expected of her jailers, but this wasn't it.

Her curiosity won out over her caution and in a nervous voice she said "You can come in."

The door opened with a soft click and as the door gently swung open to reveal the source of the voice, Sakura staggered back as her face paled as though she had seen a ghost.

While the combination of a pure white suit on alabaster skin gave the figure a spectral quality, it was the face that had her recoiling. It was simultaneously so familiar and so alien, a face she had seen a dozen times in the Emiya family's photos, but corrupted with red eyes, unnaturally pale skin and white hair pulled back into a neat ponytail.

However, no matter how hard she tried, there was no mistaking the gaunt face of Kiritsugu Emiya.

Ignoring her dramatic reaction to his appearance, the figure wearing Kiritsugu's face walked past her to take a seat at the small table near the window.

"Please, take a seat," he offered, indicating the seat opposite him.

With shaky movements Sakura complied, unable to pull her eyes away from the strange face. The figure gave an apologetic smile as she sat.

"It's the face isn't it? I'll admit I was worried this might happen. After all, our research did indicate that you had spent a great deal of time around the Emiya household so it was entirely possible that you met the source material."

"Source material?" Sakura asked, her voice barely more than a breathless whisper.

"Well as you can probably tell from my complexion, I'm a homunculus. The Einzberns, my creators, decided it would be a fun idea to use the famed 'Magus Killer' as a base for me. If you feel like it you can call me Immanuel."

Sakura felt like a weight had slipped from her shoulders at the revelation she wasn't dealing with some ghost or reanimated corpse. As she relaxed and took a closer look at the face, she realised that it couldn't have possibly been the real Kiritsugu as the face seemed about ten years younger than any photo she had seen.

"First off." The homunculus spoke up and Sakura suddenly grew aware that she had been staring at his face again "I would like to apologise for the rough manner in which we…" he trailed off as he searched for the right words.

"Kidnapped me?" Sakura suggested. Speaking out like that felt odd to her, but the more she thought about the idea of an artificial person wearing the face of Shirou's deceased father, the more it rubbed her the wrong way.

"I was thinking something more along the lines of 'transported you against your will'."

After a short pause he added "That's not any better is it?" She answered him with a glare.

With a sigh the homunculus's shoulders slumped and the smile that had been present since he entered fell from his face. "The truth is the Holy Grail War is starting again, and my creators ordered me to retrieve you." At the mention of the grail Sakura was sure her heart momentarily stopped beating. "If it was up to me, we wouldn't have gone with such an overt approach, but it was determined that you were too valuable to leave with the Matous, and that Zouken was too much of a controlling influence on both you."

The last part of his statement raised a question in Sakura "What did you do to my Grandfather?"

The homunculus paused at the question and after a few seconds of silence he took on an apologetic expression "There's no easy way to say this, so I'm just going to be blunt. My Caster servant killed your Grandfather."

"And you're sure he's dead?"

The thing with Kiritsugu's face seemed confused but answered nonetheless "Yes. Something about the man disagreed with my servant, so Caster was very thorough."

It took Sakura a while to understand exactly what she was feeling, but she eventually realised it was relief. She was glad Zouken was dead.

As much as a part of her wished to believe herself free, now that the patriarch of the Matous was gone, a more rational part of her acknowledged that she was still in the grasp of one of the great families of the grail. She was still exactly where she had always been.

Following this thought, she deduced what she had been 'transported against her will' for. "You want me to be a master in the war."

It wasn't a question, but a statement.

"Yes," came Immanuel's straightforward reply.

"But why? You already have a servant."

"That's true, however, the Einzberns noted that the winner of the last war combined her forces with that of another master and servant pair, and let's say that their display inspired my creators. To that end I have been tasked with extending to you an offer of alliance."

"Can I refuse?" Sakura asked, already sure of the answer. Immanuel's grimace and slight shaking of his head was just confirmation.

There was one more question she had and she was almost too scared to ask it "What's to stop me betraying you?"

She couldn't help but feel a tinge of sympathy as a pained look took over the imitation of Kiritsugu's face as he reached done to his feet and retrieved a manila folder. "This brings us to the unpleasant part of our conversation."

With hesitant movements, he opened the folder to reveal dozens of photos. Sakura immediately recognised the subject of the photos, for how could she forget the Shirou Emiya, the boy she had fallen in love with. The photos were date stamped, all within the last month, and the background was undoubtedly London.

Judging from how Shirou was not looking at the camera for even a single photo, these had not been taken with his permission. As she shuffled through the photos, a dull ache grew in her heart, as just about every second photo showed Shirou with Rin Tohsaka and the two couldn't be called anything but happy.

It then clicked, exactly what these photos said about the Einzbern's ability to get to Shirou without him noticing. The revelation had her feeling like ice water had replaced the blood in her veins.

She looked up from the photos ready to beg for Shirou's life, only to stop as she saw that Immanuel had unbuttoned his collar to reveal a band of silver tightly constricting his neck, with small black veins snaking out from underneath.

Before she could ask, he spoke up. "You're not the only one being threatened here. As far as Einzbern homunculus go, I am very unorthodox. As what can be considered a last resort, I'm a combination of all the things they don't usually do when making homunculus.

"That includes a far greater ability for critical thinking and freedom of thought. They worried that this might lead me to go against their goals so they added two additional items; a strong desire to survive and a way to kill me if I ever defied them." As he said the last part he rubbed the metallic band with a look of obvious discomfort.

"Why? Why are they being so cruel?" Sakura asked, her voice a pleading whisper.

"The Einzberns were the ones that came up with the very concept of the Grail War," Immanuel said in a resigned voice. "They were invested in this idea before the other great families got involved. They have invested a lot of time, money and effort into this ritual and they have nothing to show for it. I suppose you could say they finally ran out of patience."

"Have they kidnapped Shirou as well?"

"No. The last I heard he was still happily studying in England with no knowledge of the coming war."

"And if I do what you ask, if I fight for you as a master…?"

"Then he will stay that way, regardless of the outcome of the war."

After a several seconds of silence, Sakura looked Immanuel in the eyes and declared "If it's to save Shirou, I'll do it."

"Thank you and I'm sorry things had to happen like this," he replied with a bow of his head, sounding sincere in both his gratitude and his regret.

Sakura watched as he stood up and gathered the photos back into the folder they came in. As he went to pick the folder off the table, Sakura acted on impulse and slammed her hand down on the folder, preventing it from being moved.

Immanuel blinked in surprise, but acquiesced to her unspoken demand and left the folder on the table.

He then walked off towards the door, Sakura didn't watch him go, but she heard the door open and Immanuel's voice call back "While our circumstances for meeting are regrettable, I would like for us to be able to get along."

After that she heard his footsteps leave the room, the sound echoing through the open doorway as he walked further away. When the sound eventually faded, Sakura looked up at the open doorway, then back to the folder and with a sense of finality, walked over to the door and closed it.

Immanuel strode purposefully through the passageways of the manor, a newly purchased property to serve as his headquarters for the coming war. As he walked, he reached up and flicked a latch on the metallic band around his neck, leaving the too small necklace to fall from his neck and into his hand. He then massaged his neck and within moments the black veins were gone. The buttons of his collar were then done back up and his tie tightened as he stuffed the harmless accessory into his pants pocket.

* * *

 **AN: And that does it for chapter 3, thanks for reading let me know in the reviews what you guys thought.**

 **Constructive criticism is appreciated.**

 **Next Chapter: New Arrivals**


	4. New Bonds

**AN: ATTENTION! This is not chapter 4, if anything this is chapter 3.5. The following scene isn't essential to the plot, just something I felt like writing that wouldn't naturally fit into either chapter 3 or 4. Plus people were asking for more Archer and I wanted to break up the drama with what the Fate series is really about... superpowered heroic spirits beating the snot out of each other.**

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 **Editor/Beta reader: Korzark**

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It was late in the night when Archer materialised in the backyard of the Emiya estate. A moment later Lancer appeared several meters away facing him with his spear in hand. The weapon wasn't like something Archer had ever seen before, with the spearhead being big enough to be called a short sword, followed by a half-meter long wooden mid-section, and ending in with a metal spike as long as the spearhead.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Lancer asked calmly.

"The way I see it this is unavoidable," Archer explained matter-of-factually as he stretched his arms. "While this is a three-member alliance, given the connection between our masters, chances are it's going to be us working together more often than not. When that happens I just think we should be clear on who's calling the shots between the two of us."

"If this is really about establishing a pecking order, then why isn't Saber here?" Archer didn't say anything in response to Lancer's query, merely raising a single eyebrow questioningly. "Ok. You're right. No need to involve the terrifying warrior princess."

"Warrior Queen," Archer corrected. "Though to be honest, there is another reason."

"Oh?" this time it was Lancer's turn to raise an eyebrow.

"I just really want to see what this new body can do," Archer said with a smile.

Lancer smiled back as he stuck his spear into the ground then cracked his knuckles "That makes two of us."

"I like your enthusiasm. I think we'll achieve much under my leadership."

"You're making a lot of assumptions there," Lancer replied with a smirk.

"I suppose I am," Archer replied as he took off his coat and began to roll up the sleeves of his shirt. "Some rules before we start; no Noble Phantasms or special skills, this is meant to be a fair and friendly bout after all."

"Understandable," Lancer said.

"To prevent any unfortunate accidents; no weapons."

Lancer looked between his spear and his opponent before giving a nod as he acknowledged that the spear would give him an unfair advantage in the small stage of their little contest.

"Finally, as a matter of civility; no eye gouging, no hair pulling and absolutely no attacks aimed at each other's crotch."

"Well that goes without saying. So, what are the win conditions for our fight?" Lancer asked as he let his cape fall from his shoulders.

Archer thought for a moment before asking "Are we capable of being knocked out?"

"I don't know," Lancer replied honestly "should we try and find out?"

"Sure, do you want to go first?"

"This was your idea, the first move should be yours," Lancer said as the two fell into their stances. Archer took up a boxing stance, front facing the enemy with his left foot forward, and his fists raised to chin level. Lancer's stance was more unorthodox, he stood almost completely side on to Archer with his left arm out in front while his right sat across his torso.

"Nah, you first. I insist."

"Well if you insist-" Lancer words fell away as he took off half way through his sentence, covering the distance between him and Archer in a heartbeat.

Archer's eyes widened at how fast Lancer closed the gap and was barely able to react in time to lean backwards as Lancer's right hand came swinging in like a club.

As the fist passed, Archer stepped in to try counter attack and almost got taken out as Lancer used the momentum of his first attack to keep spinning and bring his left arm around to deliver a punishing elbow that Archer caught on his left arm.

Ignoring the pain that flared up his arm, Archer took the chance to fire off a straight punch at Lancer's unprotected back, only for his opponent to leap away fast enough that the punch barely grazed him.

Knowing now how dangerous Lancer could be on the offensive, Archer rushed towards Lancer, intent on keeping him under pressure.

The ground blurred by underneath Archer as he charged forward and delivered a straight punch aimed at Lancer's head. The punch was swept aside by Lancer's outstretched left hand and Archer immediately had to tilt his head to avoid Lancer's right-handed counter attack. The strike cut across his cheek, drawing a line of blood before Archer was able to use his left arm to trap his opponents right.

With both arms tangled up with Lancer's, Archer drove his knee up hoping to catch Lancer in the ribs, only for his leg to collide with Lancer who had had the same idea.

"You fight well for a bowman," Lancer commented.

Archer answered by freeing his right hand, grabbing the back of Lancer's head and pulling him into a head-butt. Archer had a moment to take in his opponent's bloodied nose and unblinking expression, before realising that if he had managed to free his hand, then Lancer's hand was similarly liberated. A jolt of panic flooded his system as he felt a pressure settle on the back of his head and a moment later Archer was staggering back as his nose exploded in pain.

As he blinked away the pain, he saw Lancer spin and almost immediately after, felt the unmistakeable feeling of a kick to the chest that sent him flying across the yard.

Regaining his bearings enough to roll to his feet as he landed, Archer quickly fell back into his stance, ready to meet the attack he knew was coming. True to his prediction, Lancer was on him and firing off a blistering series of jabs.

Archer raised his guard and weathered the attack as best he could until he could find an opening to counter. His opportunity came as he saw Lancer come in with another great swing of his right hand.

Knowing what to expect this time, Archer ducked under the strike, while simultaneously sticking his right arm up and towards Lancer's head. His attack didn't reach Lancer's head, but it did intercept his upper arm, stopping Lancer from pulling the same spinning attack as last time. Before Lancer could withdraw his arm, Archer rose up, coiling his right arm around Lancer's shoulder as his own shoulder came up underneath Lancer's elbow, trapping the man's arm.

Making the most of the arm lock, Archer used his left hand to rain down blows on Lancer's unprotected ribs. He heard Lancer grunt from the pain and as he felt his grip on the man's arm start to slip, Archer swept Lancer's legs.

This would have given him the advantage had Lancer not managed to grab and pull him down to the ground with him.

It was at this point the match between legendary fighters devolved into something as elegant and technical as a bar brawl, with their actions becoming a mess of punches, kicks, elbows and shouting as they wrestled on the ground.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TWO DOING?" the shout rang out across the yard causing Archer and Lancer to freeze in place before looking to the source and seeing an absolutely livid Rin Tohsaka glaring at them from the porch.

The two heroics spirits took in their current position, Lancer was sitting atop Archer, one hand grabbing the man's collar while the other was cocked back to deliver a punch, Archer for his part had one hand pushing on the underside of Lancer's chin while the other was reeling back to deliver another punch to Lancer's rapidly bruising ribs.

Without a word, the two quickly disengaged and stood rigidly at attention as Rin stormed across to them. How a girl dressed in yellow pajamas with green cat prints and slippers could look so terrifying, Archer had no idea.

"Do you two idiots have any idea how late it is?! People are trying to sleep! I'm trying to sleep!"

"Sorry ma'am," Archer replied automatically, Rin's tone managing to make him feel like he was back in basic training being yelled at by his drill Sergeant.

"I've enough experience with Archers to have expected some trouble so I'm not really surprised on that front, but Lancer? I had hoped those of your class would be capable of being the bigger man and not be getting involved in stuff like this."

While Archer felt the need to protest the harsh judgement of his class, neither heroic spirit said anything, both thoroughly cowed by the girl that stood a full foot smaller than either of them.

The enraged mage stood there, glaring at the two heroes for what felt like minutes before she relented with an exasperated sigh. "So, what was this fight even about anyway?"

Rather than answer the question, both Lancer and Archer suddenly found it very important to be looking anywhere but at Rin.

"It was something petty wasn't it?"

Archer tried to whistle innocuously, only to spectacularly fail and ending up just loudly blowing air out.

Rin growled in frustration, "Well if you two are done with your dick measuring contest, I'm going back to sleep and I suggest you do the same." With that said she stormed back to the house.

It was at this moment that Lancer decided to speak up "We don't require sleep."

Without pausing, Rin called over her shoulder, "Then read a book or murder each other quietly. I don't really care what you do, but if you wake me up again, not even the Grail will be capable of healing what I do to you."

As the terrifying young woman disappeared into the house, the two bloodied and bruised heroes sagged in relief before looking at each other.

"So, I'm willing to call that a draw," Archer suggested.

"Screw that, I was clearly winning," Lancer argued.

"So you think, but I was just about ready to turn the tables and start demolishing you," Archer countered.

The two glared at each other for several seconds before they both burst out laughing and clasped hands.

"So, are you going to tell me where a bowman learns close quarter fighting like that?" Lancer asked between laughs.

"With the commandos, mate. If you think that's impressive, you should see me with my sword; once used that to take forty Germans hostage in a single night," Archer boasted.

"That sounds like quite the story, but I bet I could beat it, Archer."

"Jack."

"Hm?"

"None of this class nonsense mate. We're friends, call me Jack."

"Is this how you usually go about making friends?" Lancer asked with a perplexed expression.

"More or less," Jack replied with a laugh.

"In that case Jack, you can call me Enkai," Lancer said with a smile.

"Well then En-guy, let's see if that master of yours has anything to drink hidden around here. Our spar might have been interrupted, but I know for a fact that my war-stories can beat anything you've got," Jack said as he walked towards the house.

"You're making a lot of assumptions," Enkai shot back with a challenging smirk as he easily fell into stride beside his friend.

* * *

 **AN: So the bromance begins.  
What did you guys think? I might do more of these .5 chapters in the future depending on whether you guys like this and if I have more ideas for scenes that don't really fit into the chapters.**  
 **Looking to get a cover image made up for this story, if you're interested or know someone who might be then send me a PM to let me know.**

 **On another note, I got a review saying that even if the grail refused the summoning of Artoria, either Avalan or Shirou himself could have acted as a catalyst to summon Merlin, any of the knights of the round table (I'm not so sure that would be the case) or the heroic spirit Emiya. I have to say this is a good point, it is also one that I had not considered.**  
 **The failed summoning was just so I could quickly explain away why everyone's favourite Baber wasn't in the story as Shirou and Rin would naturally try to summon her but she didn't fit with what I had planned.**

 **Next chapter (for real this time): New Arrivals**


	5. New Arrivals

**AN: Clearly I need to update more frequently as I keep getting asked if this fic has been discontinued. Fortunately no. I just take a while to write, sorry about that.**

 **In more important news; I got a cover image! I wrote out a link to the artist's tumblr page below if you want to check out more from them.**

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 **Cover Image: The Dream Bubble Conspiracy [the-dream-bubble-conspiracy. tumblr. com (remove the spaces)]**

 **Beta reader/editor: Korzark**

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Visiting hours were over and the nurses on night-shift had just finished their rounds when Shinji noticed he wasn't alone. That statement would seem inaccurate to anyone else, as no matter how hard they looked, none would be able to see the figure Shinji saw, standing by the window.

With the lights in Shinji's room turned off, the light from the city filtered in through the glass and rendered the figure into a silhouette with few details.

"Everything seems to be going to plan. I must say you played your part excellently," the figure by the window said in a familiar voice.

"Shirou is easy to fool. The idiot has always been way too trusting for his own good. Tohsaka is different though," Shinji replied, not even bothering to sit up. "It helped that she's never expected much of me, but even still, throwing facts and half-truths at her until Shirou got back was the only way I could think of to keep her realising anything important."

"Most curious isn't it, how the Einzberns knew to take your sister. It's almost like someone had been giving them information on the Matou family, and the black grail," the man by the window said with a note of amusement in his voice.

"Personally, I find it far more curious how you know the number for the Einzbern's phone," Shinji shot back with a smirk.

The figure by the window gave a dark chuckle "Curious indeed. Let's just say I'm intimately familiar with the Einzberns. But I have to say, giving them information on your Grandfather, all his strengths and weaknesses, and going so far as to call him a threat to the grail? That's cold, even by my standards."

Now it was Shinji's turn to smile, "Am I seriously about to get lectured on morality by the voice in my head?"

The figure turned to face Shinji "Please, don't refer to me as a voice in your head, we both know I'm so much more than that, and I have a name." Now facing Shinji, the light from the window lit up half of the figure's face and Shinji saw his own face staring back at him.

"Angra Mainyu," Shinji breathed.

"That's right," Angra Mainyu smiled as he moved over to sit on the end of Shinji's bed, "and now after all our preparation, the sixth war is starting. Doesn't that fill you with excitement?"

Shinji shook off the momentary shock that always came with seeing a mirror image of himself walking around. "Are you sure all those rituals even worked?" he asked sceptically.

"You doubt my knowledge of the grail?" Angra Mainyu asked, sounding surprised. "My very presence here is proof of how you and the grail, once part of the same body, never truly separated. An experience that opened your magic circuits! Yet you doubt my knowledge of the grail?"

"Well how can I trust you when you said Shirou Emiya would be incapable of summoning a servant, yet I saw him today and he had command seals!" Shinji argued, getting fired up for a moment before realising where he was and forcing himself to calm down.

"The Emiyas have been problematic over the last couple of wars so I agreed to your idea. The ritual was carried out perfectly, but is seems there was one thing we forgot to consider. Shirou could still take someone else's Servant," Angra Mainyu explained, clearly also put-off by the development.

"There's nothing we can do about it now," Shinji said with a resigned sigh. "We'll just have to make a point of hunting him down when the war starts."

Angra smiled again "Well then, you know what you have to do."

Without a sound, the figure of not-Shinji disappeared. Now alone again, Shinji reached for his smartphone and started looking at aeroplane tickets, from Tokyo, Japan to Melbourne, Australia. First class of course, after all, he had just inherited the Matou fortune and that called for a little celebration.

* * *

The sun had yet to rise as Lord El-Melloi II sat alone on the rooftop of the Mackenzie's house, a cigar hanging from his lips as he stared east at the horizon. The information Shirou and Rin uncovered had given him a lot to think about.

Their mission to recruit a second member from one of the three great families of the grail, was a total bust.

Not only that, but judging from the message the Einzberns left the Matous, it seemed they were cleaning house and the first to go were the other great families of the Grail. But if that were truly the case, then why did they take the girl and leave the elder sibling alive, and why hadn't they made some attempt on the last member of the Tohsakas?

Was it because she was in London, surrounded by the some of the most powerful mages in the world? No. Deaths and disappearances were all too common in the mage world, if the Einzberns wanted her dead, they would have at least made an attempt. There had to be more going on here.

Then there was the methodology of the attack. He had met the Einzbern master of the fourth war a couple times during the conflict, a homunculus woman named Irisviel, and such a brazen and pre-emptive attack didn't seem like the sort of thing she would do.

There remained the possibility that the Einzberns had repeated their strategy from the fourth war and bought the loyalty of some ruthless outsider like the Magus Killer, but given how that went in the fourth war, he doubted they would care to attempt such a strategy again.

That left the questions of what they were truly up to and what made this homunculus different from its predecessors.

His quiet contemplation was interrupted as a figure emerged from the skylight just below him.

"I thought I might find you out here," Glen called up with a smile on his face.

"What can I say, you got a nice spot up here," Waver replied merrily. Before he helped Glen out of the skylight, he discreetly put out his cigar, not wanting to let Glen know he'd picked up smoking.

"I'm honestly a little surprised you're up so early. From what those students of yours were telling us, you're not exactly one for early mornings," Glen commented, offering Waver a thermos full of coffee.

Waver gratefully took the offered drink before asking, "they told you that much?" A little nervousness slipped into his voice at the thought of what else Gray and Reines might have said.

Glen nodded. "In fact, it was almost impossible to get them to stop talking about you. It would seem you've grown into a fine young man if how much those two look up to you is anything to go by."

Waver let out a small chuckle "I can imagine Gray might look up to me, but Reines? No way. That girl is her own idol."

"You'd be surprised," Glen insisted. "I actually see a lot of the old you in her. A spoiled brat convinced of their own genius."

Waver groaned at the reminder of what he had been all those years ago, "Was I really that bad?"

Glen shrugged but didn't deny it, "What's important is that you outgrew it, I can only hope she can do the same."

"I hope so too," Waver sighed.

"You're worried about her?"

Waver nodded. "She comes from an old family, lots of tradition, and when she comes of age they're going to put a lot of responsibility on her shoulders. I don't know if she'll be able to manage it," he explained.

Waver had to be careful of what he said, he hadn't told Reines or Gray, but during his previous stay here, Glen had managed to break through the hypnosis spell he had cast on the couple and realised Waver was not really their grandson. Having every right to be angry, Glen had instead recognised that Waver meant no harm by deceiving them and had invited him to stay as having him around had Martha smiling more than she had in a long time.

But despite this understanding between them, Waver had never told Glen about the existence of magic.

"Now I see what you meant in your letters about seeing her as a sister to you, but whether you think of yourself as her brother or just as her teacher, there's something you have to remember," Glen said with an air of certainty. "It's not your place to protect her all her life. You just have to prepare her for what the world holds as best you can, and when the time comes, you have to be strong enough to let her go. To make her own mistakes and to forge her own path in life."

"You're right," Waver conceded with a smile. "But since when do you know so much about what it means to be a teacher?"

"I'm a parent Waver. Not just that, I'm a grandparent, there ain't no better teacher than that," Glen said sagely. "Speaking of being a grandparent, any chance I'll get to see some great-grandchildren in my lifetime?"

Waver almost choked on his coffee and was left coughing and spluttering as Glen laughed. "Shouldn't you be asking your actual grandchildren that?"

"I would if the brats ever visited," Glen said with a laugh, but Waver could see through it. He knew how much Glen and Martha yearned to see their son and his kids, and how much it hurt them when they never visited.

Waver looked at the distant horizon as he answered, "I'm pretty busy at work even without trying to balance a relationship, so I can't promise any results. But I can promise that I'll try."

Glen's face lit up and he reached over to clasp Waver's shoulder in a familial manner "That's all I ask. You deserve someone who can make you happy."

The two sat there in a comfortable silence as the sun rose over the horizon.

"I should be going," Waver announced as he stood up.

"So soon?" Glen asked, clearly disappointed in their time together ending already.

"Yeah. Unfortunately, we have an early flight," Waver explained.

"Well alright then, stay safe Waver," Glen said with a sigh.

"Do you need help getting back in?" the mage asked.

"I'm old, not useless. I'll be fine on my own," Glen answered. "I want to stay up here a little longer anyway. Tell the girls it was lovely meeting them."

"Alright," Waver said as he moved to re-enter the house. He paused with one foot in the sky light and looked back up at Glen, "One more thing; thank you so much Glen. While I may have pretended to be your grandson, you were honestly more like a father to me, I can never thank you enough for all you've done for me and in my opinion, your son is a fool for not visiting."

Glen smiled down at him "It was my pleasure Waver, and remember, you're always welcome here."

As he looked up at the elderly man the idea of abandoning the war and staying here felt incredibly tempting, but as the sound of Reines and Gray talking drifted up to where he stood, he knew he had to go.

With a final look at the rising sun, Lord El-Melloi II, head of the El-Melloi family and Lord of the Clock Tower, descended into the house for a final time as the sun's first light filled the sky.

* * *

Over at the Emiya residence, Shirou and Rin had just finished packing and were making their way to the kitchen for a quick breakfast when they came upon an unusual sight. Archer and Lancer passed out in the dining room, surrounded by many empty bottles of sake.

"Don't need to sleep my ass," Rin mumbled under her breath.

"Taiga must have left those here. She's probably going to be pretty pissed when she finds out they're gone," Shirou said with a sigh before looking to Rin, "So what are we going to do with these two?"

"Allow me," Rin said with confidence as she walked past the unconscious servants and into the kitchen. Once there she grabbed out two frying pans and walked back into the dining room. Shirou realised what she was planning and had barely covered his ears before Rin started bashing the pans together.

The effect was instantaneous as Lancer and Archer started rolling around on the ground, cradling their heads and howling in pain so loudly, you would think someone had set their brains on fire.

The moment Rin ceased her bashing, Archer was on his feet "What is your problem, woman?!"

Unfazed by the heroic spirit shouting at her, Rin walked up and prodded him in the chest "You're my problem. Now clean this mess up quickly so we can have breakfast without feeling like we're dining with some washed-up drunk."

Shirou for his part looked down at Lancer who looked back with a pained expression "Somehow, your girlfriend scares me more than the warrior Queen, and I'm not even sure how that's possible."

* * *

Sakura's footsteps were both quiet and cautious as she moved through the manor, unable to escape the feeling that noise would be out of place in the silence that permeated the property. She had no destination in mind, but with nothing else to do, she had decided to explore.

As far as she could tell her experience so far as a kidnapee was unconventional, not that she had much to compare it to, unless she counted her time with the Matous as time in captivity. Even then, she was reasonably sure that her captor causing a small fire in his attempt to make dinner for the two of them, wasn't a 'normal' occurrence.

In fact, the atmosphere when Immanuel gave up and ordered pizza while Caster worked to repair the kitchen, felt, while not entirely relaxed, far closer to her times in the Emiya household, dining with Shirou and Ms Fujimura, than any of her meals at home.

Unconventional seemed to be a theme with her captors though, as when Caster appeared, it had not been in the white robe he had worn during her kidnapping, but simple jeans and flannel.

In fact no part of his appearance, from his short dark beard, his tightly curled and equally dark and short hair and weatherbeaten face. In fact, Caster's appearance seemed more like a lumberjack, than what she would expect of a mage accomplished enough to be summoned as a Caster.

As she continued to walk, she discovered the place was significantly larger than the Matou's house, and felt even more for it with the lack of people living there.

From what she had seen so far, the only people living here were Immanuel and herself, so when she heard the unmistakable murmur of conversation, her curiosity got the better of her and she couldn't help but investigate.

As she got closer, she discovered the voices were coming from a lounge room near the entrance with the door just slightly ajar.

From inside she could Immanuel's voice as well as one other. Her first thought was that he was talking with Caster, but after taking a second to listen she quickly realised that this had to be someone else. She had heard Caster briefly speak the night before, and he did not speak with the German accent she was hearing from inside the room.

The conversation was in English, but thanks to her lessons from Ms. Fujimura, both inside and outside the classroom, she had little difficulty following the conversation.

They seemed to be making some sort of deal with Immanuel offering some kind of rare opportunity to the other man in exchange for something.

"It's bad manners to eavesdrop you know," a voice whispered into her ear.

The surprise was enough to cause her to jump as a high-pitched squeak escaped her mouth. She spun on the spot to see Caster staring down at her and was about to explain herself when she realised that there was no way that Immanuel hadn't heard her reaction.

She spun back around to see the door now wide open and Immanuel standing at the threshold.

Her years with the Matous had her drawing into herself as she prepared for the anger to come.

Instead Immanuel smiled at her. "Hi Sakura. If you wanted to know what we were talking about you could have just knocked," Immanuel said, switching to Japanese. "If you're still interested your welcome to sit in. We're equals here and I have nothing to hide from you." With that he opened the door wider and stepped back to allow her access.

With a quick look back that revealed Caster had disappeared, Sakura hesitantly accepted the offer and walked inside.

The room had a large window on the far side that filled the room with the light from the midday sun, perfectly illuminating the ornate couches facing each other over a glass coffee table.

Sitting on one of these couches was presumably the other man she had heard. He was an overweight man with blonde hair that was combed back into a mullet, while an arrogant smirk and a toothbrush moustache adorned his face. His clothes seemed to be styled after a military officer's parade uniform, except it was almost entirely white with gold details.

It occurred to Sakura that this man had to be a mage as no normal person would go around looking like that. She also couldn't help but compare his appearance to Immanuel, in his immaculate white suit, neatly tied back hair and lean physique. She found this man to look cheap and tacky by comparison.

As Sakura moved over to the couch opposite the tacky man, he spoke up "Aren't you going to introduce me to your friend?" he asked in a smug tone as he looked her up and down.

Immanuel gave a tight smile as he sat down next to Sakura "Gordes Musik, this is Sakura, the Master of Assassin." In confirmation of his description, Sakura raised her right hand to show the blood red seals that marked her as a Master. The summons had only been performed last night so she had held the title for less than twenty-four hours, but something in the way Immanuel said it gave her the confidence to not shrink under Musik's gaze.

"Sakura, this is Gordes Musik, master alchemist and depending on what decision he makes, he could be another Master in this war."

Gordes gave Sakura a lecherous smile as he was introduced "I'm pleased to see there's another human around, I was getting tired of talking to this construct."  
Sakura's eyes widened at the statement while Immanuel let out a frustrated sigh that suggested he had been dealing with this man's attitude for some time and it was wearing thin on his nerves.

"I've had a moment to consider the terms," Gordes continued, except instead of addressing Immanuel, he was looking at her, "and I've decided to accept your offer. Now as soon as you provide the promised catalyst, I'll make the arrangements to start getting a workshop set up. How does that sound?" As he finished he held out a hand towards her for her to shake.

Sakura looked to Immanuel for suggestion, and received a resigned nod. Unsure what she was agreeing to, and with the hand held expectantly towards her starting to make her nervous, she acted.

"I'm sorry Mr Musik, but you seem to be under some sort of misconception," Sakura began, surprising both herself, and judging by their reactions, the men as well with her statement. "I am the guest in this house, not the host. As such any deal being made is between the two of you, not me.

"And before you think of talking down to Immanuel again, I think it's important that you remember that, among the three-people sitting here, you are the only one without a servant to call on," She bowed her head slightly as she said the words, but otherwise kept her back straight, her posture polite while making it clear her words were not to be dismissed. "So, if you truly plan on joining this war then I would suggest you start showing Immanuel the appropriate level of respect."

As soon as she finished speaking her eyes widened as she realised what she had done. Her posture faltered and she quickly looked down at her lap, but not fast enough to miss how red Musik's face had gotten.

"Why you-" Musik started before the sound of Immanuel loudly clearing his throat cut him off.  
"I believe you were just about to accept my deal Mr Musik," Immanuel said confidently. Turning her head slightly, she could see that he was leaning with his right arm on the arm rest of the couch, leaving his own command seals in plain view, as he casually extended his left hand only so far that Musik would have to get up to reach it.

Sakura peeked up at Musik to see him angrily looking between them before growling, "Fine," as he stood up and reached over to shake Immanuel's hand, as the homunculus remained seated with a pleased smile on his face.

"Well that settles it. Now if you could just wait here, Sakura and I will retrieve your catalyst. I look forward to working with you." No-one missed the lack of sincerity in the last part of Immanuel's statement.

Sakura breathed a sigh of relief as the door to the lounge room closed behind them.

"You really put him in his place back there," Immanuel said with a smile as he started walking deeper into the manor with Sakura quickly moving to walk alongside him. "To be perfectly honest, I didn't think you had that in you."

"I'm sorry," Sakura apologised quietly. "I'm not sure what came over me. I just… I couldn't stand the way he was acting."

Immanuel laughed, "That's nothing to be sorry for, you actually did me a massive favour by doing that!"

Sakura felt her face heat up a little at the honest praise for something she felt so nervous doing. "If it's not too much to ask, why do you even want to ally with someone as unpleasant as him?" Sakura asked.

Immanuel paused and his good mood fell away so fast that Sakura regretted asking.

"He's necessary," Immanuel explained. "So far, we control Caster and Assassin, making us a powerful force purely thanks to our numbers, but we also have a glaring weakness in that set-up. Casters and Assassin's don't tend to do well in frontal assaults so an attack from a Saber servant, or even a decently powerful Lancer, could easily cripple us."

"So you want a third Servant to provide frontline power and round out the group?" Sakura guessed.

"Exactly. For that purpose, I tried reaching out to those the Einzberns had history with. Only the Musiks responded," Immanuel finished sullenly.

Sakura frowned as they continued walking. While it was less than ideal to be working with someone like Gordes, the fact that they would now have a team of three servants meant their victory was practically guaranteed.

"I was thinking of heading into town later," Immanuel spoke up, his good having seemingly returned. "Would you like to join me?"

Sakura paused, surprised by the question.

Did she hear that right? Wasn't she a prisoner? Since when did you let prisoners take trips into town?

Realising she had been staring silently at Immanuel for what had likely been several seconds, she quickly answered "Yes!" A part of her scared that if she refused the offer now she might not get another. The manor, nice as it was, was quickly become boring without any other forms of entertainment.

Not to mention Immanuel hadn't taken the time to pack some of her clothes when he 'transported her against her will'.

Immanuel seemed amused by her reaction if his smile was anything to go by, "You're pretty eager. Though really, I shouldn't be surprised, even I'm getting a bit bored her-"

Immanuel's words were interrupted by a loud cough bursting forth from his mouth. It was loud enough to startle Sakura, and when she turned to ask if he was alright, the coughing continued.

Immanuel put a hand over his mouth as he used his other hand to signal 'just give me a second', but the coughing only grew more violent and he was soon doubled over with one hand pressed against the wall to support himself. All the while Sakura looked on helplessly, unsure of what had caused this or what to do, and unwilling to leave someone so obviously struggling alone for however long it might take to get help.

After seconds that felt like minutes, the coughing subsided and Immanuel was left kneeling on the ground gasping for breath. Sakura carefully crouched down next to him and gently asked "What was that?"

"It's nothing to worry about," he tried to assure her. It wasn't very effective, as Sakura witnessed him wiping the hand that had been covering his mouth with a white handkerchief, that came away black.

"I thought you said you had nothing to hide earlier," Sakura pointed out, not letting this slide.

Immanuel gave a small laugh at his own words being brought against him, but this time it sounded pained. "You got me there. The thing is, I have a few more flaws than the usual homunculus," he admitted. "Most Einzbern homunculi can function properly for at least a few years. I've been active for about a month and I'm already starting to degrade. It's the down side to some of the advantages I've been given."

Sakura didn't know what to say, but after a moment of silence Immanuel continued, "It's also the real reason I brought Musik in. Outside the Einzberns, he's arguably the world's leading expert on homunculi, something my Caster sadly knows nothing about. As it stands, if this war lasts longer than a week, I won't survive it without his help."

The two sat in silence, moving to sit down and lean back against the wall, as Sakura let this new information sink in and Immanuel's breathing started to level out.

"I've some questions and I want you to answer them honestly, okay?" Sakura asked, her tone making it clear there was no room for debate.

Immanuel said nothing, but gave a single nod.

"Do have anything against Shirou or any reason to attack him?"

Immanuel shook his head, "I don't even know the guy and I'm only here to fight the war."

Sakura breathed a sigh of relief at his words, happy with the knowledge Shirou would be safe.

"Secondly, what happens to me after the war?"

"If I'm still alive, I'll make sure that you are compensated for your help and safely transported to wherever you want. Back to Fuyuki, off to London, or maybe somewhere completely knew, somewhere you can make a clean start. The choice is yours," The intensity in Immanuel's eyes as he said this left no doubt in Sakura's mind that he was sincere.

Sincere as he might be, and as much as Sakura wanted to be able to trust him, there was still one question she needed to ask before anything else could be decided.  
Taking a deep breath, Sakura asked her final question "If you win the war, what will you wish for?"

Immanuel looked around the passageway they were sat in, as though expecting someone to be listening in, before speaking in a conspiratorial whisper "I plan to ask the grail to make me human. Damn the Einzberns and damn what they want. They aren't the ones fighting here, I am, and I want to live."

Sakura nodded, understanding his caution about voicing such a treasonous wish.

Making up her mind she stood up and declared "I've made my decision. The terms of our deal were that I summon a servant for you to use, but I'm changing that. Immanuel Emiya, I'm going to do everything I can help you win the Grail War!"

Immanuel looked up at her with an expression of uncomprehending amazement. He was in a dark place, Sakura understood that, she knew that feeling. But unlike him, she had had Shirou to be her light in the dark and inspire her, so maybe, just maybe, she could be his light in the dark. She could be the hero for him, that Shirou had been for her.

Immanuel's expression turned from amazement to confusion, "Wait, Emiya?"

"Uh…" Sakura's train of thought ground to a halt as she realised she had actually called him that.

"Well, it's just that, you never use a last name, going by how you talk about the Einzberns I figured you wouldn't want to be called that, then I remembered you said Kiritsugu was your source material, so that means he's kinda like your dad," part of her mind noticed that she was now playing with her hair as she rambled, "and he's also Shirou's dad, so I figured that kind made you Shirou's little brother, so… Emiya."

Immanuel blinked owlishly at her, clearly having been unprepared for the veritable landslide of words she had unleashed.

"I'm sorry, that was rude of me. I won't do it again," Sakura apologized, a lot quieter now.

"No, no, it's nothing like that," Immanuel assured her as he stood up. "You were right about me not wanting to be counted as an Einzbern. I was given the Von Einzbern name, but I never wanted to use it, preferring to not have any last name. I never really considered taking a different one though. Immanuel Emiya," he smiled as he tried the name out.

"I like it," he declared as a grin split his face.

Sakura had heard the Shirou tell the story of how he met Kiritsugu, of how the man had saved him from the great fire, and how the smile he had when he found someone alive, had become part of what drove Shirou to pursue the path of a hero.

She had always wondered how a smile could be so powerful, but watching the grin light up Immanuel's face, she started to understand.

 _Don't worry Shirou_ , she thought to herself, _I'll look after your little brother_.

* * *

Ophelia Conrad walked leisurely through the aisles of the second-hand bookstore. The fingers of her left-hand brushing gently against the spines of the books as her eyes scanned the titles through the circular lenses of her glasses.

Between her short and messy brown hair and washboard chest, she would often get mistaken for a boy. Her fashion choice of jeans, joggers and a hoodie didn't help, but she had never cared much for people's opinions. To her books had always made for far better company.

Her finger stopped on a copy of the Odyssey. She already knew the story, but as she stared at the weathered spine, she couldn't help wonder what it would be like to go on an adventure, like the one detailed on those pages.

 _Nope,_ she decided. Adventures like that were far too dangerous. Odysseus lost his entire crew in that story! Better to leave the daring adventures to someone else, and read about it later in the safety of her room.

She kept browsing until her finger stopped on another book, this time a collection of the original Brothers Grimm versions of many popular fairy tales. _It's even in German_ , she noted with some interest. But no, that's not what she was in the mood for today, so she kept moving.

When her finger stopped a third time, she looked at the book and smiled. Old and worn, proof of a book that had been read and loved many times. She flicked through the pages and relished in that old book smell. The title read Don Quixote and the blurb told of a middle-aged man becoming delusional from the books he read, setting off across Spain in search of glory and grand adventure as a knight.

She already knew the story, and could fondly recall her time reading it, but had lost her copy of it sometime ago, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to get a replacement.

A minute later she was leaving the store with purchase in hand and a smile on her face.

As a cold wind blew through the Melbourne street, Ophelia pulled her hood up and started quickly walking towards her sister's shop. It was a small place that got by selling things such as healing crystals, good luck charms and other such nonsense. Her sister swore there was real power in what she had, but Ophelia knew better.

If you wanted to see magic then read a book, for there's no such thing as magic in the real world, and that was a fact.

* * *

 **AN: People have been asking about how these changes to the grail have been happening and now you have your answer. It's god-damn Shinji Matou.**

 **So this is the last chapter of set-up. After this there will be a lot more action as the Mage Association group arrive in Melbourne and the war begins.**

 **In case you were wondering, the Einzberns do canonically have both a phone line and a generator to power it. Kiritsugu insisted on it being installed during the time he was with them. Also according to the wiki, Shinji's magic circuits were forcibly opened when he became the vessel for the Holy Grail, so him being able to use magic post UBW is theoretically possible.**

 **Next Chapter: New Threats.**


	6. New Threats

**AN: Managed to update just within a month! Sadly it will probably be longer before the next chapter as Uni is starting back up again. Until then I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

 **Beta reader/editor: Korzark**

* * *

Shirou knew what he was seeing was a dream. Nothing but memories that didn't belong to him. He had experienced this before, when he had re-lived the memories of the famous King Arthur during his time as Saber's master in the fifth war. But it still felt real.

He could feel the desert sand between his toes, the merciless sun beating down on him and his throat dry beyond belief. He felt his legs cry in protest as he forced them to keep moving, knowing he had gone too far to turn back.

The heat and dehydration made climbing the shifting sands even more difficult than it usually was. He reached the top of the next dune and tried to look around, to see if his goal was in sight. But his vision swam, and as he tried to steady himself, he instead collapsed and tumbled down, losing his grip on his spear as he fell.

He kept rolling until he reached the bottom of the dune, where he lay staring up at the sky. Turning his head, he weakly spat sand out of his mouth and made to get up.

But his body refused to answer. It was too tired and dry. He had finally pushed himself too far. In that moment he knew; this was where he would die.

A beautiful woman appeared before him, and for a moment he did not recognise her and told himself it was merely a mirage. It was only when she drew closer that he recognised her and knew she was real, and while it warmed his heart to see her, he knew she couldn't save him. She was his Guardian Spirit. The one who had been with him since birth, warding off evil, protecting him from danger and only visible to him.

He was lucky in a way. No-one else that he knew of could see their Guardian, but he had always been different. But she could not save him now. Right now, he needed water and shade, neither of which she could provide.

Without a word, she kneeled behind him and gently lifted his head onto her lap. She couldn't save him, so she had come to do the only thing she could; to offer him her company so he wasn't alone in his final moments.

He wanted to tell her. Wanted to tell her how thankful he was for all the times she had saved him, how much he appreciated her silent company on lonely nights. Yet when he opened his mouth, no words came out. His throat was too dry to form even the simplest of sounds, but he kept trying. He had to tell her.

He stopped struggling when a finger gently pressed against his lips. He looked up to see her smiling down at him, even as tears ran down her face.

He closed his eyes and with his final breath he whispered the name he had given her so many years ago, "Simu."

Shirou woke with a start to find himself sitting in the back of a car. Rin was leaning over him with one hand on his shoulder from where she had obviously been shaking him. He recalled getting in the car after their flight landed, but couldn't recall anything after. The flight to Melbourne must have worn him out more than he thought.

"Shirou, we've arrived," she explained before adding, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," he assured her. "I just had a weird dream."

Rin nodded in understanding. As a fellow grail war veteran, she too had experienced her servant's memories as dreams, except in her case, she saw the hellish future that could be waiting for him. He had caught glimpses of that future when he had clashed with Archer during the fifth war and didn't envy Rin's more in-depth look.

"If you two love birds are done, we'd all like to go inside now," Reines voice called from outside the car.

It was only then as Rin moved away that he took in their surroundings. When Lord El Melloi had said that he had organised accommodation, he had expected their destination to be a high-rise hotel in the city centre, instead he was greeted with open streets of a picturesque suburban neighbourhood.

The rest of their team, at least those of the non-heroic-spirit variety, were all gathered in front of a large modern, two-story house.

As they walked up to the front door, Shirou asked "How did we get such a nice place?"

"Lord El Melloi said the owners are currently on a road trip around the US, and were kind enough to rent the place out while they were gone," Rin answered, that there had been some form of magical influence in the owners decision, went without saying.

"Saber's finished up," Reines said idly as they arrived at the steps to the front door.

El Melloi gave her a nod, then unlocked the front door and went in with the others following close behind. The group spread out into the foyer as they admired the spacious and well-lit house.

"Gotta hand it to ya, you got some pretty swanky digs," a voice called from the second story. The assembled mages looked up to see Archer looking down at them from the second floor, where he casually sat on the railing surrounding the stairs.

Before anyone could form a response to Archer's words, Saber strode in from one of the side rooms, but unlike Archer, she was dressed in a smart black suit. "I've finished my inspection, the premises is secure," she declared, her words directed towards Reines.

"That's great and all Penny, but where did you get those clothes?" Reines replied.

 _Penny?_ Shirou thought in confusion. He looked to Rin to see if there was something he missed but she looked just as surprised by the familiarity that Reines referred to her Servant with.

"Forgive my boldness, but I thought my usual attire might draw unneeded attention, so during the flight I took the liberty of securing the clothes from your Lord brother's wardrobe," Saber answered crisply. She then turned to the Lord whose clothes she was wearing and said "I apologise if my actions have offended you in some way."

El Melloi shook off his own surprise and quickly answered, "It's no problem, I'm just surprised it fits."

"Yes they fit rather well, except for well..." Saber shuffled around and briefly looked down before finishing "they're a little tight around the arms."

"Oh snap!" Archer laughed as Shirou tried disguise his own laughs with a cough and Reines openly snickered.

It was then that Lancer made his entrance, coming in through the front door with two suitcases under each arm. Shirou stared at the heroic spirit for a second as he recalled the dream he had just had of the man's final moments. Lancer, for his part, just looked around at the laughing mages and the Lord with the twitching eye and asked "What did I miss?"

"Noth-" El Melloi started before getting cut off as Archer called down.

"Your Master has spaghetti for arms!"

Lancer squinted at Lord El Melloi's arms for a moment before calling out to Archer "What is spaghetti?"

The question brought Archer's laughter to an end "Oh you poor bastard," he muttered as dropped down to the ground floor. "We need to introduce to the cuisine of the modern world," Archer announced as he walked past Lancer and towards the front door.

"Date night's going to have to wait Archer," Rin called out stopping Archer in his tracks.

The World War II veteran pivoted on the spot to face his Master "First of all, not loving your choice of words. Secondly, why?"

"Because we're going to see the Church Overseer," Rin declared.

It was a bit earlier than expected, but the declaration didn't come as a surprise to Shirou, as he and Rin had come up with this plan back in Fuyuki.

As Shirou saw it, Reines was the big gun of the group, she commanded a Saber servant, and like all heirs to old families, she no doubt had a massive amount of mana and a collection of magical artefacts at her disposal.

Lord El Melloi II represented the Clock Tower. From what Shirou had heard, the guy wouldn't be much help in a straight fight, but Rin had assured that the guy was some kind of genius, so his ability to strategize was not to be taken lightly. That wasn't even mentioning that any supplies from the Clock Tower would be going through him. Giving him full control over who had what resources.

This left one question. What advantage did they have over their teammates? Rin had suggested that their best bet was to quickly secure information about the new battlefield and try to control the flow of information. After all, while the vast majority of them had no prior experience in this city, they had a secret weapon. A secret weapon that was currently sneaking closer to the door in hopes of escaping to find a place that made spaghetti.

A quick google search had revealed that Archer had spent time as an Instructor for the Australian Defence Force and when asked, had revealed that he had been to Melbourne on multiple occasions, and they planned to make the most of that.

Lord El Melloi looked at them suspiciously, "Is there any reason you need to see the Overseer?"

"Let's just say we didn't get along with the last Overseer and want to make sure we don't have a repeat performance this time round," Rin answered. "We plan to see what type of person the Church has sent and decide whether or not we should expect problems from them."

The older magus nodded, seemingly satisfied with the answer "That makes sense. While you do that, I'll look into the leylines in the area, see if I can figure out where the Grail is likely to show up."

Rin gave a single nod and moved towards the door and just as Shirou was about to follow, the Lord called out "One more thing before you go."

Rin and Shirou looked back to see El Melloi opening one of the cases that Lancer had brought in. "You were promised support in this war, and it's time you saw the first piece of that," he said as he stepped back and pulled back the top of the case to reveal the contents.

Shirou was sure that for a few seconds his heart stopped beating when he saw what was inside. He turned his head to look at Rin, an action made nearly impossible by how his eyes insisted on remaining fixed on what was inside the cases, and he saw the fear on her face.

The lord must have been too focused on what he revealed as he didn't seem to notice their reactions, and instead kept talking "The Faculty of Modern Magecraft have been working on this for the last couple years now. This body armour's ability to stop bullets is decades ahead of the best America's military has to offer. It also offers decent protection against blades and low-level spells. At least that's what it should do. It's still a prototype."

The words barely registered as Shirou continued to stare at the armour, the black material and silver detailing were terrifyingly familiar. This would normally be impossible, but in a way Shirou felt like he shouldn't be so surprised, after all, the last time he had seen this armour it was being worn by his future self.

* * *

Ophelia watched in terrified awe as a man in full plate armour, used one hand to lift one of the three would-be robbers by his throat, with as much effort as it would take her to lift a small novel. The robbers frantic struggling didn't seem to bother the knight in the slightest as he raised the man higher, before throwing him out the open front door of her sister's shop.

A second man came at the knight from the side with a wooden baseball bat. Before Ophelia could call out a warning, the bat came down on his helmet with an audible clang.

To her surprise, the knight didn't even flinch at the blow. Instead he turned slowly to face his attacker, and with a cuff to the side of his head, he collapsed unconscious at the knight's feet.

Unfortunately, the last guy wouldn't be so easy to deal with. That's because the last of the three criminals was the one standing behind her with a knife to her neck.

The three crooks had followed her into her sister's store immediately after she had entered. One of them had immediately grabbed onto her and put a knife to her throat, threatening to kill her if her sister tried to raise any alarm.

When the one with the baseball bat went around breaking display cases and the other was harassing her sister for the location of their safe, she prayed. She begged for someone, anyone to come and save them. And that was when he appeared.

The man in full plate armour emerged from the storeroom and, in seconds, had effortlessly taken out two of the criminals.

"Get back!" the last of the thieves shouted. "You take one step towards me and I'll cut her fucking neck open!"

"No," the armoured man said, his voice slightly distorted by his full-face helmet, "you won't."

Before the thug could respond and faster than she could blink, the knight covered the distance between them, and the feeling of the blade edge against her throat was replaced by the almost gentle steel of his gauntlets as her hero wrapped his hand around the blade.

The robber released his grip on her and she slumped to the floor. She looked up in time to see the robber abandon the knife in the knight's grip and try to run.

But the knight wasn't done with him.

With another effortless action, the hero grabbed the retreating thief by his shoulder and pushed him against a wall, his armoured forearm coming up to press against the crook's throat, tight enough to keep him in place but not enough to choke.

"You try to steal from women, you threaten the life of a young girl and when someone opposes you, you choose to take flight rather than hold your ground. Where is your honour cur?" the distorted voice growled out from beneath the helm.

"Let go of me!" the terrified thug shrieked hysterically as he frantically tried to free himself from the knights grip.

"Be glad I'm here on matters more important than your worthless hides," the knight declared. "Take your compatriots and flee. But know this; if I ever see you again, I shall cut you down where you stand!"

With that said, the knight released his hold on the thief, who wasted no time in scrambling out the door, leaving his unconscious companion in the shop.

Stepping over the unconscious thug, the knight moved over to the shop counter where Ophelia's sister, Cordelia or Claire as she preferred to be called, was nursing a rapidly darkening black eye.

"Do you require aid madam?" the knight asked gently as he offered her his hand.

"I'm fine thanks," Claire answered cautiously as she took a step away from him.

Rather than seeming offended by her suspicion, the knight merely nodded before moving to grab the unconscious robber by the ankle and drag him out onto the street.

Instead of leaving, he then came back and inside, closing the door behind him. It was at this point it occurred to Ophelia that there were no other doors or windows in the room this guy had come from.

The mysterious knight knelt down in front of her, and now that she had time to calmly look, she found the armour was old, worn and dented in places. He removed his helmet to reveal the face of a man past his prime with both his hair and beard being flecked with grey.

With an air of dignity and a seriousness that only Hollywood's best or a madman could command in such an outfit, he asked "Young lady, are you my Master?"

As befitting one as well read as herself, Ophelia replied in a confused voice "What?"

The middle-aged knight seemed surprised by her answer, "Are you not the one who summoned me as your Servant for the Holy Grail War?"

Before Ophelia could voice how she was only more confused now, her sister cut in "Wait did you say Holy Grail War?"

"Indeed I did," the knight answered as stood back up and turned to face Claire. "Are you perhaps familiar with the ritual?"

His answer seemed to scare Claire more than the thugs had, "I, uh… I heard of it at the Clock Tower. Rumour going around was that one of the current Lords killed his predecessor during one. But isn't that only supposed to happen in Japan?"

"While that's certainly been the case in previous wars, it seems things have changed this time around," the knight declared in a jovial tone.

"Wait, wait, wait," Ophelia called out as she pulled herself to her feet. "You guys aren't making any sense. What's this about a war?"

"The Holy Grail War is an opportunity unlike any other," the knight proudly proclaimed. "Seven mages engage in an epic battle, with the winner getting a wish granted by the Holy Grail. To aid them in this most dangerous endeavour, each mage, or Master, summons a Heroic Spirit from one of the seven classes to fight by their side!"

"Hold up," Ophelia interjected. "You're telling me not only is magic real, but I've been selected as a Master in some sort of magical battle?" she asked with a deadpan expression.

"Indeed that is the case," the knight nodded.

"And you're one of these Heroic Spirits that are summoned to fight?" she asked, delivering the question just as she had the last one.

"Right again young Master. I'm the Rider class Servant, Don Quixote de la Mancha, at your service," he answered with a bow.

"Okay, just a couple problems with that. First, Don Quixote is a fictional character, so whoever you are, you are not him. Second, there's no such thing as magic!" Ophelia declared.

"Then explain why you have the command seals of a Master on your hand," the knight calmly countered.

Looking down at her hand, Ophelia noticed that she now bore a blood red symbol that looked like two crossed swords and a crescent on her right hand.

"What?!" she shrieked. "When did you do this? How do I get it off?" the last part was asked as she desperately tried to rub the markings off to no effect.

"I did not put those on you Master," the knight said as he rose his hands in a placating gesture. "That is the work of the Grail."

"Claire!" Ophelia called out desperately. "Tell this guy! Tell him there's no such thing as magic, tell him he's crazy and for the love of God help me get this weird thing off my hand!"

"He's not lying," her sister said with a note of finality, before closing her eyes and holding her hands out to her sides.

Ophelia opened her mouth to retort, but quickly closed it when she saw the dozens of pot plants around the shop suddenly grow and move in ways that she knew plants shouldn't move. Before her disbelieving eyes, the plants went about cleaning up broken glass and returning fallen items back to their places on the shelves.

In less than a minute the place was cleaned up and the plants returned to their normal size as her sister opened her eyes again.

Ophelia stumbled back into a wall and let herself slide down it until she was sitting on the ground, her hands pressed against her forehead in an effort to ward off the pounding headache she was getting as she tried to wrap her brain around what she just saw.

"The young Master seems to be struggling a bit with this new found information," Don Quixote said quietly to Claire. "It might be best if we leave the rest of the explaining to the Church Overseer. Do you know where we might find them?"

"Yeah. The Church has a representative stationed at St Peter's Cathedral. Even if they aren't the Overseer, they should be able to point us in the right direction," Claire answered, a nervous tone permeating her words.

* * *

The sun was going down when Rin and Shirou arrived at St Peter's Cathedral. According to Archer, this was the place most likely to house the Overseer sent by the Church.

As they walked towards the entrance, the image of the armour remained fresh in Shirou's mind and his head swirled with questions of what it might mean for his future. With a deep breath, he pushed those thoughts down in order to focus on the task ahead and pushed open the wooden doors.

The Cathedral was the largest church in the city, and as they entered the sounds of someone playing the organ filled the large space.

With only a few parishioners scattered across the pews and no priest in sight, the two mages gravitated towards the source of the music filling the room. Shirou felt that there wasn't anything particularly noteworthy about the song being played. In fact, if he had to comment on it at all, he would say that the slow sounds were making him feel a little drowsy.

With the organ providing the only other sound in the room, their steps sounded disrespectfully loud and Shirou couldn't help but cringe internally.

The organ was near the front, not far from the altar, and as Shirou and Rin got close, they saw a woman who appeared to be a nun was the one playing the instrument. Unlike most nuns he had seen, this woman did not wear the distinctive headwear associated with nuns, and instead had loose white hair that flowed freely down her back.

It was enough to make her stand out, and as they got closer, she stopped, turned around and fixed them with a look from her golden eyes. In that moment it became quite clear that they had found, if not the Overseer, then a representative of the Church.

"The two of you appear to be looking for something," the nun said in a gentle voice as got up and walked towards them. "I only recently joined this parish, but I can assure you I will still do my utmost to aid those who have come to God's house seeking guidance."

Wasting no time, Rin raised her right hand to display her command seals to the nun. "You wouldn't happen to recognise this would you?" she asked politely.

The nuns eyes widened in recognition as she stepped closer to them and whispered "These things are best not talked about with others around. Follow me."

Without waiting for a response, she walked through a door just past the altar. With no real alternative, the two followed her in.

To the best Shirou could guess, the room she led them into was a change room where priests would put on the robes they would wear during a mass.

When they were all inside she shut the door and asked "Before we begin, would either of you like some tea?"

If nothing else, this woman seemed to be far more polite than the last Overseer, Kirei Kotomine, Shirou concluded.

"I'm fine," Shirou answered.

"No thank you," Rin politely declined.

The nun nodded "In that case, before I begin explaining things, might I get your names? Mine is Caren Hortensia."

"I'm Rin Tohsaka, and this is Shirou Emiya," Rin announced.

"Tohsaka… Emiya…" Caren repeated as her eyes scanned the two of them. "My sincerest apologies Miss Tohsaka, I had mistaken you for a new Master, when in fact you are better versed in the details of the Grail War than myself."

"So you are the Overseer then?" Shirou asked.

"Indeed I am," Caren confirmed. "In fact, at this point the role of Overseer could be considered a family tradition."

In less then a heartbeat, Shirou went from relaxed, to being a hair's-breadth away from summoning his swords, as a feeling of ice-water replacing his blood spread through his body. He re-examined the room, this time taking note of how enclosed the space was, making the use of magic more difficult, the lack of furnishing, leaving nothing to take cover behind, and the one door, with Caren standing between it and them.

Caren continued speaking, either oblivious to their reactions, or unconcerned. "Allow me to reintroduce myself, my name is Caren Hortensia, daughter of Kirei Kotomine and Claudia Hortensia. I sincerely hope we can put our families' history behind us and have a pleasant relationship during this Grail War."

Shirou risked taking his eyes off of Kotomine's daughter to glance at Rin. While Shirou knew that he was visibly tense, Rin's body language said she was a rubber band that had been stretched to the limit and was about to snap. And he understood why. He had a lot of reasons to dislike Kotomine and almost all of them came from what Rin had told him about the guy.

Kotomine had been a student of Rin's father Tokiomi, and had exploited the man's trust in him to kill Tokiomi and assume control of his Servant during the fourth Grail War. When the war ended, Rin had no father and her mother was left mentally disabled after the Matou Master had attempted to murder her, and so it was that Kotomine became her guardian for the next ten years of her life.

They had thought things with Kotomine were over, when he had tried to use Rin as a sacrifice to summon the Grail, only to be struck down in the attempt by Lancer.

The nun finally seemed to notice how tense the two had become, but didn't seem put off by it. Instead she seemed to study Rin's expression as it appeared to shift between angry, scared and pure rage as she no doubt recalled all her worst memories of the nun's father.

"There is no need for alarm," she finally said, unnervingly calm despite the tense atmosphere. "I meant what I said about putting the past behind us, and even if I did bear ill will for you, I lack any magic circuits, so I doubt I would pose any threat to mages such as you two."

For some reason Shirou couldn't help but believe her words, but while he did loosen up, he didn't let his guard down.

"We just came to introduce ourselves and see what kind of person the new Overseer was," Shirou said as he tried to calm himself. "Now that we've done that, I think we'll be going now."

"So soon?" Caren asked, seeming genuinely disappointed.

"There's a lot that we have to prepare for the coming war," Shirou explained. "It's best if we don't delay."

"Understandable," she nodded before looking at Rin. "If you find the time, please stop by again. The Tohsakas and the Church have a long history, and I would hate to see it ruined by one man."

Rin said nothing, only staring at Caren skeptically, as though trying to determine the sincerity of her words.

Shirou walked towards the door and Caren moved out of their way without complaint. It was only as Shirou had stepped through the door that she spoke up.

"One last thing before you go. You said you had to prepare for the coming war, but that is incorrect. The last Servant was summoned today. The war has already begun."

With her ominous warning at their backs, Shirou took Rin's hand and briskly led them back down the main aisle of the cathedral, anxious to leave this place as soon as possible.

* * *

Archer watched from the rooftop as Rin and Shirou exited the cathedral.

The two stopped on the sidewalk and started to talk. He wasn't sure what they were saying, but Rin was more animated in her words than he had ever seen her, and from the way she kept pointing towards the cathedral door, it was obvious this was about whatever had happened inside.

Ironically, it was this close observation of Rin that caused Archer to take so long to realise the danger they were in.

He mentally kicked himself for not noticing sooner, mistakes like this were not something he could afford to make. There were people counting on him and he wasn't going to let this end like Brac.

"We've got a problem," Archer announced, letting his link with Rin carry the words into her mind.

He watched as she immediately tensed up and cut off her conversation with Shirou.

"What is it?" Archer saw her lips move to make the words, but heard them in his mind.

"Look around," he explained. "This isn't some outskirt back alley, this is a main road near the city centre, so where the hell is everyone?"

"A bounded field," Rin's voice declared in his head as she came to the same conclusion that he had. Someone, undoubtedly another Master, had created a magical boundary to keep civilians away from what was about to become a battleground.

He could see Rin and Shirou scanning their surroundings, but the sun had gone down and so had visibility. Luckily his vantage point allowed him a better view and he saw what they didn't

"Two targets incoming from the North. One average sized and the other is ridiculously tall and carrying a massive hammer. I'm guessing a Master-Servant pair."

Rin's reply came a few moments later, "I see them. Do you have a clear line of fire?"

"Yeah," he replied, his eyes never leaving the approaching duo. "I got a clear shot at both. Do you want me to aim at the Servant or the Master?"

"Focus on the Servant for now," she instructed.

With his orders clear, Archer materialised his bow in his hands, a simple wooden longbow, and a single arrow. The act of nocking the arrow and taking aim came as easily as breathing and without having to test it, he somehow knew that he could fire off arrows at the rate of a machine gun.

As the unidentified duo continued to approach, Archer took the opportunity to examine them.

The Servant carried a hammer with a head made of a massive stone block and carried a sword sheathed at his waist. He had little in the way of armour, bronze spaulders on his shoulders and greaves of the same metal on his legs and a skirt of leather strips that was common among Greek hoplites, but his chest and bald head remained exposed.

But what stood out the most was the lumbering way he walked and the look in his eyes that said all coherent thought was gone.

There was no mistaking it, this Servant was of the Berserker class.

The master though, caused some confusion for Archer, as he matched all accounts of what Rin had told him a homunculus looked like. Skin that was unnaturally white, with hair of an identical shade and red eyes.

Something about the Master's appearance must have stood out to Rin and Shirou, because as soon as they stopped their approach, some twenty meters from Rin, Shirou immediately started shouting at them.

Whatever it was about the homunculus's appearance that set Shirou off, it must have been pretty serious, as Archer had only known Shirou to be a kind and patient guy, yet now he was yelling loud enough that Archer could hear bits of what he was saying despite the distance between them.

The homunculus said something in response, and from his body language alone, Archer could tell it was something mocking.

"Archer," Rin's voice returned to his mind, "change of plans; shoot the Master!"

The arrow had left his bow before she had finished the sentence. Flying faster than any arrow shot by a human could achieve, and directly on track to strike the homunculus in the head.

It would have been a perfect shot, had the bastard not reacted impossibly fast and dodged out of the way.

Archer released a volley of arrows at the homunculus, fired at a rate no human could hope to match, but he had lost the element of surprise and Berserker swung his hammer and the force of it knocked all the arrows out of the air.

With his position compromised, Archer leapt from the roof of the cathedral and a moment later the spot he had been standing in exploded as Berserker landed with a mighty swing of his hammer.

Archer landed on the ground with a roll that was more to keep his momentum than to lessen the impact of his fall. He fired two arrows at Berserker before running.

He didn't bother seeing the result of the arrows, from what he had observed already, the chances of them damaging the giant were tiny. Luckily, they didn't need to hurt him, they just needed to keep his attention.

Apparently Rin and Shirou had been attacked after visiting the Overseer during the last war, and as such had planned for such an occasion this time round. And that was where Archer was headed, to the nearby Fitzroy Gardens, where Lancer was waiting.

They had the numbers advantage not just in Servants, but in Masters too, and Rin's divide and conquer plan was designed to capitalize on that.

The trick was going to be surviving the journey. Luckily surviving as many battles as he had in life, had a fortunate side effect when being summoned as a heroic spirit, that being a skill called Mind's Eye, a sort-of danger sense that helped him anticipate what his opponent would do next.

For example, right now it was telling him that Berserker was going to land on him in five… four… three… two-

Archer threw himself to the side and not a moment too soon as the ground where he had been was crushed by Berserker's hammer, while the man himself landed behind Archer and delivered a brutal kick to his back.

Archer hit the ground hard and rolled, but as he stopped, he looked back at Berserker with a smile. Because as much as Berserker's move had caught him off guard and as much as the kick had hurt, and good lord had it hurt, it had also carried him the last part of the way into the gardens.

Berserker closed in, no doubt eager to bash his brains out with his colossal hammer, only for Lancer to charge out of the nearby tree line behind Berserker. His bare feat would have barely made a sound, and when coupled with Berserker's own thunderous foot falls and single-minded focus on Archer, Lancer was as good as invisible, as he came in behind the giant and stabbed him through the back.

Lancer stepped back, pulling his spear out as he did, leaving Berserker to fall to one knee. But Berserker wouldn't go down so easily, and Archer saw right arm begin to move, no doubt planning to strike the retreating Lancer with his hammer.

Only for half a dozen arrows to sprout from his wrist as Archer fired faster than he ever had before, damaging the arm enough that the hammer fell uselessly from his grip.

Moving in front of Berserker, Lancer spun his spear in his hand and then drove it through Berserker's thigh and into the ground. Berserker roared and tried to swing a wild punch with his left hand, but once again Archer fired off a blindingly fast volley of arrows, this time aiming for the shoulder. The broadheads severed tendons and left the arm hanging uselessly half-way through its swing.

When Archer had been summoned to take place in this war against legendary heroes, he had thought the battles would be harder than this. This almost seemed too easy.

With both arms maimed and Lancer's spear pinning his leg to the ground, Berserker was defenceless and Lancer capitalised on that; grabbing the sword sheathed at Berserker's waist. The mad giant tried to take Lancer out with a swing of his ruined right hand, but the agile spearman dodged back, then after taking a moment to examine the craftsmanship of the blade, darted forward and drove the sword into Berserker's chest.

Berserker's thrashing and yelling stopped instantly.

In fact, it stopped too quickly.

Archer had seen many die, and one in a rage like Berserker's did not die that quickly from a stab to the chest.

His thoughts were confirmed when a slow chuckle came from Berserker's mouth, "You know, for a while there, you almost had me."

Lancer leaped back as the arrows stuck in Berserker's wrist pushed themselves out with a sickening squelch. His right hand once again useable, he next pulled the arrows from his shoulder and with a mighty tug and a shout of pain, he pulled Lancer's spear from his leg.

He then stood up, leaving the sword buried hilt deep in his chest and Archer watched in disbelief as gold light shone from Berserker's wounds, and in seconds all injuries were gone.

"Sorry about the poor display up until now," Berserker said, cool confidence replacing his earlier mindless roars, "but I will make sure to make up for that now, as you now face the full might of Ajax the Greater!"

"Uh, Archer?" Lancer called out nervously. "I think I just fucked up."

"I think so too buddy," Archer replied.

* * *

 **AN: All the servants are summoned, we have identities for most of them and the battles can now begin.**

 **Sorry if the Berserker VS Archer and Lancer seemed a bit short, but that just means more for next chapter. The fight might have seemed a bit too one sided, but remember that Archer and Lancer went into this with a plan and the element of surprise, and Ajax doesn't have anything like Heracles's God Hand to protect him.  
**

 **Constructive criticism is appreciated.**

 **Next chapter: New Rival**


	7. New Rival

**AN: What do I do writing wise when I have an entire week free from uni? Nothing. What do I do when I have the busiest week of the semester so far and fall sick at the start of the weekend? Finish the chapter!**

* * *

 **Editor/beta reader: Korzark**

* * *

"Who the hell are you?! And why do you have that face?!" Shirou roared at the enemy Master as his entire body shook with rage.

"I have this face because I'm the closest thing Kiritsugu Emiya has to an actual son," the homunculus answered smugly. "As for a name, you may call me Immanuel Emiya."

Rin was fairly sure she could hear Shirou's teeth grinding together at this point, but Immanuel wasn't done.

"Do you like the name? Your dear Sakura gave it to me."

"What?!" Shirou gasped.

"I can't blame you for being surprised, I was too," Immanuel went on. "Honestly I'm surprised how quickly she warmed up to me. I suppose she must be use to endearing herself to whoever's custody she finds herself in."

This was the straw that broke the camel's back and had Rin ordering "Archer, change of plans; shoot the Master!" under her breath.

The homunculus' head instantly turned to face her, obviously having heard her. A part of her recognised that shooting the only lead they had to Sakura's location wasn't the smartest decision, but she was currently way too angry to pay much attention to that part.

Yet Immanuel showed no panic or concern. Instead he gave her a brief smile, before leaning back and out of the way of the arrow meant for his head.

From that moment the battle had begun and Rin was almost blown off her feet by the displaced air as Berserker swung his hammer.

The ground then shook as Berserker leapt from the homunculus' side, no doubt in order to pursue Archer.

Her servant was going to have his work cut out for him, but if the way this construct had dodged that arrow was any indicator, she feared they might face the harder fight.

Shirou rushed in with a furious yell, his swords springing into existence with a flash of electricity.

Rin watched as Shirou slashed at Immanuel with his dual short swords, only for his opponent to continuously dance back out of his reach.

"So much anger," the homunculus laughed, "did something I say hit a nerve?"

"Give Sakura back!" Shirou roared.

Immanuel paused for a moment before narrowly ducking under a swipe aimed at his head, "Really? That's what's got you so upset? I thought she was fair game. After all, both of you abandoned her."

Rin readied a Gandr spell, a dark orb of red and black energy gathering at the tip of her right index finger, ready to launch it off with enough force to crack concrete and render the target unconscious due to its effect as a curse.

She carefully watched the two men fight, waiting for a big enough opening to fire her spell. In between his increasingly narrow evasions, Immanuel pulled his tie from around his neck, then, while wrapping the narrow end around his right hand, flicked the tie in her direction.

Faster than Rin could dodge, the tie stretched, covering the twenty meters between them in the blink of an eye, before coiling around her right forearm and going taught.

Immanuel yanked on the tie with enough force to pull her off her feet and it was only a last second application of reinforcement magic that stopped her shoulder being dislocated.

Her spell fired off wildly as her chin smacked down on the pavement and she could hear Shirou call out her name as she pulled herself back to her feet.

It was only Shirou's continued assault that prevented the enemy Master from following up while she was down.

The tie remained bound around her arm and a quick check revealed the homunculus still had a hold of his end. With a burst of reinforcement magic through her arms, Rin grabbed hold of the tie and pulled with all her magically augmented might.

Caught completely off guard, Immanuel was yanked several meters through the air before hitting the middle of the street with a satisfying thump and a winded gasp.

Shirou leaped in to try finish him off, only for the homunculus to roll out of the way and back up to his feet, letting go of the tie in the process.

With Immanuel no longer holding it, the tie fell limp and shrunk back to original size as it fell at her feet.

"Not bad Tohsaka," Immanuel grudgingly admitted. "I wonder if your sister would have been as impressive, if she hadn't been sold off to the Matous while you sat back and watched."

Rin saw Shirou stop and his head snap to look at her, obviously having made the connection that there was only one girl in the Matou family close enough to their age to be her sister.

It was only for a moment, but that moment was all Immanuel needed. As soon as Shirou's attack had paused, Immanuel switched from dodging back to charging forward.

"Look out!" Rin called out in warning.

But it was too late and Shirou turned just in time to see Immanuel deliver a palm strike to the centre of his chest.

The force of the blow took Shirou clear off his feet and several meters back before he hit the ground in a heap.

Rin flooded her body with reinforcement magic and charged at Immanuel. She could explain the truth about Sakura to Shirou later, but first she needed to make sure they survived this fight.

She flipped into the air as she got close, aiming to bring her heels down on top of him. The Homunculus jumped back and instead of her heel crushing his head, it hit the road with enough force to shatter all the tarmac with a metre radius of her.

Immanuel charged towards her and delivered a left hook. Rather than try to dodge it, Rin wagered that, going by how Immanuel had dodged instead of blocking her attack, she currently had the strength advantage.

Her gambit was rewarded as Immanuel's fist glanced off the arm she had raised to defend her head, and she was able to get inside his guard. She then launched a palm strike with the intent of crushing Immanuel's throat.

Immanuel head swayed to the right as his right hand came up to parry her strike towards his left side.

Then before she could withdraw her arm, Immanuel grabbed hold and pushed down on her elbow, while his shoulder pushed up against her forearm, and his left hand latched onto her shoulder to stop her pulling back.

It wasn't the strongest lock by far, but it didn't need to be as Immanuel quickly brought his knee up to strike her in the ribs.

As the knee connected with her side, she remembered one of Kotomine's lessons about close quarter combat, and about how when someone's arm was extended as hers was, the ribs separated slightly and became vulnerable to breaking.

Luckily her reinforcement magic prevented anything from breaking, but it was still an incredibly painful blow, and she did not want to imagine how worse it would have been without her magic to protect her.

He tried to deliver a second strike, but this time Rin was able to get her free hand in the way. Far from a perfect block but better than a broken rib. Quickly changing tactics, he used his grip to throw her across the street.

Luckily Rin's many spars at the Clock Tower had gotten her use to being thrown like this, and she was able to prepare herself as she flipped through the air and hit the ground in what her classmates had taken to calling a 'superhero landing'.

Immanuel sprinted at her, eager to continue their fight and Rin fell into a combat stance, every bit as willing as he was to keep going.

Such was Immanuel's focus on her, that he didn't notice the swords dropping down from above until it was too late.

She smiled as she saw his eyes widen in realisation of the danger and how he was going too fast to stop. Then, right in front of her eyes, he turned into a blur and slid beneath the falling swords that Shirou had summoned.

"What?!" she couldn't help but exclaim.

She had seen plenty of people use reinforcement magic to speed up movement to crazy levels before, but this was something else.

She didn't have any more time to dwell on it as the blur kept coming towards her and she felt, what she could only guess was a kick, lift her off her feet and leave her sprawling on the ground.

The blow left her winded and gasping for air as she desperately pulled herself up, the knowledge of how dangerous staying still on a battlefield is, making for an excellent motivator.

But Immanuel was no longer after her.

As she fought to regain her breath she watched as the blur danced around Shirou, only staying still long enough for Shirou to take notice of where it was, before rushing away again as soon as he tried to strike.

She staggered closer as she tried to think of what spells she had that could slow this guy down enough for them to land a hit.

That's when Immanuel made his move. As Shirou lunged in to try stab him, overreaching in a desperate attempt to catch the inhumanly fast target, Immanuel stepped to the side. His arm then blurred, stopping Rin from seeing what he did next, but she heard the result.

A sickening snap echoed out across the empty street as Shirou's right arm went limp and his shoulder stuck out far more forward than it had any right to.

"Shirou!" Rin cried out at the same time that Shirou yelled out in pain and fell to his knees.

All thoughts for strategy went out the window as Rin reached into her pocket and pulled out the first of her magical gems to come to hand.

With a casual indifference for Shirou's pain, Immanuel leaned down and whispered something into Shirou's ear, before turning to face her with a malicious smile.

* * *

Reines' gaze switched back and forth between the two fights, as she watched from her perch on top of a stadium. The fights were taking place a good few hundred meters away, but with just a slight application of magic to her eyes, the distance was no problem.

"Our allies appear to be struggling," Saber commented from Reines' side.

Reines just hummed absently as she witnessed Archer getting crushed between a thick tree and the handle of Berserker's massive hammer.

"Just say the word Master, and I will leap into the fray," Saber tried again.

Lancer came in to try stab Berserker with his spear, only for the giant to grab the spearhead in one hand. However, this required him to hold his hammer in one hand and the change allowed Archer to slip free.

"They are clearly outmatched in their fight, but have you noticed Berserker has yet to actually land a hit on Lancer? Some sort of skill perhaps," Reines mused out loud, ignoring Saber's words.

"Be that as it may, it is not the issue here," Saber insisted, this time stepping in front of Reines, cutting off her view of the fight. "We are here as part of a combined effort, and as much as I am aware that you wouldn't care to deeply for the loss of Tohsaka, Emiya or Archer, do remember that Lancer is down there as well and he is your brother's Servant."

With her view of the Servant battle interrupted, Reines switched her gaze to Tohsaka and Emiya's fight. The Emiya boy appeared to be cradling his arm, while Tohsaka was setting off a veritable fireworks display to try catch the elusive Master in white.

"If our allies are so weak that they cannot survive their first battle, then perhaps we are better off leaving them to die and joining with Berserker," Reines replied, making sure to keep her voice as casual as possible.

She heard a sharp intake of breath of breath from Saber and had to angle her head to hide her smirk.

She really had underestimated how enjoyable this whole Master and Servant thing could be. And Penny was just so much easier to get a good reaction out of than her brother, it was almost too easy really.

"If you are content to sit and watch then that is your decision. But if you wish for me to do the same, then you will have to use a command seal," Saber declared, and with an effortless leap she took off through the air.

Wait.

What?!

That wasn't how this was meant to go! Saber was supposed to stand there, quietly gritting her teeth until Reines had her fill of watching her struggle. Then, and only then, she would allow the Amazon to join the fight!

She was going to have to punish Saber. Of that she was certain. This insubordination could not go ignored.

Honestly, if she was going to dress in her brother's clothes, then she should keep following his example and bow to her will.

Alas, she could sort out her Servant later, but for now she supposed she should make sure that Tohsaka girl and her pet didn't die.

"Trimmau!" she called out.

Answering the summons, the silver suitcase she had been dragging around with her collapsed into a puddle of mercury, before reforming into the shape of a maid.

"What can I do for you Master?" the liquid metal maid asked with a slight bow of her head. She was golem Reines had reshaped to her liking after inheriting it from her deceased uncle, and was completely submissive to her will. Just as any servant or familiar should be.

"Our allies have managed to get themselves in over their heads and it's up to us to rescue them," Reines explained with an exasperated tone.

"Understood," the metal maid replied.

Then without a moment's hesitation, she scooped Reines up in a bridal carry and jumped off the top of the stadium.

* * *

Shirou pulled himself to his feet, eyes screwed shut in pain as the feeling of bone scraping against bone caused agony with even the slightest movement.

He tried to ignore the pain as much as possible in order to focus.

Rin was still fighting and he couldn't let her face that guy alone. He was simply too fast, too powerful.

It was a painful reminder of what he had felt like five years ago, when he and Rin had tried to ambush the Master of Caster, and instead of finding themselves against a regular school teacher, they ended up getting their asses handed to them by a former assassin that was being buffed by Caster's magic.

The worst part was he couldn't tell if what they were currently facing was their base level opponent, or another instance of a Caster showing off their support abilities.

He opened his eyes and to his surprise he saw Rin was holding her own. A part of him rationalised that he shouldn't be so surprised, Rin was a powerful magus and a genius to boot.

He watched her go and picked up on the two important facts that she had clearly realised far earlier; first, their opponent was too agile for precision attacks, so attacks that had an area-of-effect were their best bet. Second, Immanuel may be fast, but he still required flat ground to move on.

A fact Rin had countered by using the various magic gems at her disposal to tear apart the ground around, preventing Immanuel from getting close, all while disguising the creation of this defensive area as a continued attempt to hit that annoying white blur.

Just when Shirou started to think the fight was coming to a stalemate, he realised the true genius of Rin's strategy. Rin had once told him that homunculi were purpose built, optimised to best handle a certain task and not much else.

A good example of this was the Einzbern master from the last war, she was a mage whose power greatly exceeded even Rin's, yet with her small and fragile form, her physical abilities were negligible.

Everything about how this guy and fought suggested he was optimised for physical combat, meaning the amount of mana he possessed was dwarfed by what Rin wielded.

Rin didn't need to hit him, she just needed to keep him moving, keep him burning through his own mana supply until he ran dry and became a sitting duck.

Shirou looked across the battlefield, focusing on the determined look in Rin's eyes and he knew she already had this battle figured out.

'That slippery FUCK!' Rin screamed internally as she threw a red gem in the direction she saw the white blur move.

The gem exploded mid-air into a cloud of fire that chased after the blur. The blur tried to outrun the flames but was faced with a fact that many in history had learned the hard way; no-one outruns an explosion.

Just as the flames seemed about to catch him, there was the sound of shattering glass and the ground behind the blur tore itself up to form an earthen wall between Immanuel and the flames.

As the flames crashed harmlessly into the wall and dispersed, Immanuel came to a stop.

Rin hadn't managed to land a hit, but the homunculus certainly looked worse off from their exchange, breathing heavily, clearly sweating and his once pristine suit looking dirty and ruffled.

She could only assume that the sound of glass breaking was from Immanuel throwing a vial of some sort of alchemical solution on the ground. From what she knew of alchemy, a compound capable of doing what she just saw was fairly simple to make and required little mana to activate, but given how simplistic it was, few alchemists would use such a solution, especially since alchemists were usually the last people looking for a fight.

"You done throwing rocks at me?" the homunculus asked between breaths.

"That depends. Are you done running away?" Rin shot back. She did her best to hide it, but the adrenaline was starting to wear off and was leaving behind a whole world of pain and exhaustion.

"I can see why you don't see the value in running away from things you don't like. You prefer to just ignore them and pretend they never existed, like you did with Sakura."

The words had Rin's temper flaring despite her growing exhaustion, and she was about release a string of swear words that could bring a heroic spirit to tears, when a new voice cut in.

"If you two are done fighting and are just chatting, do you mind if I try killing him?"

The two combatants immediately turned to face the new arrival, tensed and ready to fight at a moments notice. Rin felt a wave of relief when the newcomer turned out to be none other than her ally, Reines El-Melloi Archisorte.

"That's a lot easier said than done," Immanuel commented. "Just ask your friend," he added as his gaze flicked between the two female mages, no doubt noticing how she had relaxed.

"While you might have been enough to give her a run for her money, I'm not the type to be intimidated by a guy who looks like he failed his audition for Twilight," Reines shot back.

Immanuel glared at her "And I'm not the kind of guy to be intimidated by someone who thinks a shawl is appropriate attire for a fight."

"Aww, look at that, the little homunculus thinks he's clever," Reines said condescendingly. "Maybe if you really were clever, you would have realized I have no need to dirty my hands fighting you myself."

Rin hoped the satisfaction Reines felt from saying that was worth giving away the element of surprise, as it was all the time Immanuel needed to dive to the side before a silver object hit the ground he'd been standing on like a meteor.

When the dust settled, all that was visible in the crater was a silver puddle. In a sudden, and vaguely unsettling, movement the puddle pulled itself up into the shape of a maid.

Rin had heard of Trimmau before but seeing the mercurial maid in person was something else. Even the way she walked was unsettling, with the bottom of her feet taking the shape of the broken ground, in the same way water took the shape of whatever container you poured it in, making the act of walking look so smooth it was almost like she was gliding across the fractured road.

"Target survived initial attempt," Trimmau reported in a voice devoid of emotion "continuing termination." With that her arms reformed into blades and she lunged at Immanuel.

Rin had thought Immanuel's evasion of her and Shirou, annoying as it had been, was impressive. She was starting to believe he may have been holding back, if the way he flipped and rolled to avoid the attacks of someone who disobeyed the basic rules of body-mechanics, was any indication.

Trimmau was relentless, never slowing or needing to correct her balance, and her blades kept changing shape, straight one second then curved the next.

And it was starting to get the better of Immanuel. As fast and skilled as he was, Trimmau was just to unpredictable and had none of the weaknesses of a human combatant.

As the golem chased the homunculus down the street, Reines approached Rin "Follow me. Trimmau will finish up here and Saber has joined the fight against Berserker, things should be resolved on their end soon."

"Thanks," Rin replied, but Reines was already walking off. It may have been her imagination, but it almost sounded like she was upset about Saber joining the fight.

She chalked it up to the fact that anyone watching would now know of their alliance, and quickly hurried over to where Shirou was standing.

Rin hoped Reines was right about things resolving themselves soon. As far as she was concerned, the quicker this night ended, the better.

* * *

The battle between the Servants had come to a standstill.

Fortunately, due to how well Archer and Lancer had been covering each other, Berserker hadn't been able to land any solid hits strong enough to do serious damage. Unfortunately, all of the numerous injuries they inflicted on Berserker healed almost as fast as they were made.

The combatants had separated for the moment, with Berserker seemingly confident enough to stand and wait for his opponents to come to him. Archer and Lancer for their part were happy to make the most of the break to catch their breath.

"Oi Archer. You're from a more recent time than me, any chance you could tell me when a sword to the chest stopped killing people?" Lancer asked, staring at the handle of the sword he had stabbed Berserker with.

"I'm as surprised as you are mate," Archer replied. "He didn't seem to be healing before the sword was there. Our best bet might be to try un-stabbing him."

"Easier said than done," Lanced mused. "You got any ideas?"

"Just one. I have an attack, don't know if it'll kill him, but even if it doesn't it should hurt him enough for you to be able to grab the sword," Archer answered.

"Great. What do you need me to do?"

"Buy me some time," Archer said before turning his back on Berserker, patting Lancer on the shoulder and leaping away.

"Wait, what?!" Lancer exclaimed as Archer took off into the night.

He turned back to see Berserker leap into the air, clearly planning on pursuing the escaping Servant. Trusting Archer to be true to his word, Lancer threw his spear at Berserker. The spear struck true with enough momentum to send Berserker spinning out of control and crashing back into the treeline.

As Berserker hit the ground and threw up a dust cloud, Lancer raced in and grabbed his spear by the furthest point and pulled it out, not willing to get any closer to the seemingly invincible giant than he absolutely had to.

Even so, it was only thanks to Simu, the guardian spirit that had accompanied him both in life and even now, pulling him back by his cape, that he was able to avoid having his head taken off as Berserker's hammer came swinging through the dust cloud.

Lancer took a few steps back, before rushing in with his spear spinning between his hands. Dropping to his knees, he slid under Berserker's hammer, slicing across Berserker's leg as he went past.

He had barely gotten back up when he was stepping to the side to avoid a downwards swing. This was followed by immediately jumping up to avoid the shockwave sent out by the impact of the hammer striking ground. It was during the half second he was in the air, that his spear lashed out to cut across Berserker's biceps, only to see the same light shine from the open wound as it closed itself a moment later.

The giant then tried to sweep the hammer across the ground. No doubt trying to catch Lancer as he was coming back down. Only for Lancer to reach down as the hammer's massive head came around and push off it in order to flip himself over it.

Lancer felt a weight pressing on his shoulders and immediately took Simu's suggestion and ducked, and not a moment later Berserker's hand slammed closed with enough force to create a small 'boom' right where his head had been.

Darting to the side, Lancer jumped and kicked off a nearby tree a split second before Berserker's hammer reduced it to splinters.

Lancer put some distance between himself and Berserker and was about to charge in again when he heard Archer's voice in his head "I'm ready, get clear."

Archer had told him about this, a skill called squad tactics, that formed a mental connection like that between Master and Servant, with anyone the owner of the skill marked as a 'squadmate'.

It still caught him off guard though and almost cost him as Berserker rushed forward and Lancer barely managed to throw himself out of the way in time.

Moving quickly, Lancer started running away from Berserker, cutting at the trunks of trees as he went, leaving them to fall into his opponent's path.

"Do it!" he shouted.

"Incoming, danger close," came Archer's calm reply.

A moment later a high-pitched whistle filled the air. Then the ground behind Lancer exploded.

The force of the blast was enough to knock him over, but he was fortunately far enough away the source to avoid serious damage.

Berserker on the other hand was not so lucky, with the area he had been standing on reduced to a smoke-filled crater.

Lancer could see a series of spot fires burning both inside and outside the crater, and the trees just outside the edge of the crater had been reduced to splinters.

What he could only imagine was Archer's Noble Phantasm, had transformed the green parkland into a hellscape.

Lancer heard footsteps coming from the direction Archer had run in and turned to see his ally jogging over. "I definitely got him," the bowman proudly announced. "If he isn't dead already we should still have some time to get that sword out."

Just then a gust of wind came in, blowing away the smoke, and revealing Berserker.

"Oh, you've got to be fucking kidding me!" Archer yelled.

Standing there, looking a little scorched, but otherwise unharmed, was Berserker holding one hand over his head, and above that hand was a seven-layered shield resembling flower petals made of pink light.

"Dammit!" Archer cursed. "This guy straight up admitted he was Ajax, how the hell did I forget about his shield?"

"You can be pissed off later, Berserker's moving and I need you focused," Lancer answered.

True to his words, Berserker was moving, but it was not with an impossibly fast burst of speed that only Servants could achieve, but a slow walk as he let out a deep laugh.

"An admirable effort to be sure," Berserker called out to them, "but I once fought Hector, the greatest hero of Troy, for an entire day. You were outmatched from the start. The only thing left for you to do is die."

"Have you got anything else that could be helpful?" Lancer asked desperately.

"I got one more trick, but there's no telling if it will even help against this guy. You?" Archer replied.

"With that shield of his, my Noble Phantasm won't be able to do anything, to say nothing of his healing. Whatever your trick is, we've got to bet everything on it." Lancer answered.

Archer nodded and his bow disappeared. In its place a basket-hilted broadsword appeared sheathed at Archer's waist.

The two warriors readied themselves to face off against their impossible opponent, only for a blur of bronze to come from above and behind Berserker. The blur hit the ground in front of Berserker at the same time as Berserker's head did. The blur, that the two now recognized as Saber, had taken Berserker's head clean off as she had descended.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Archer and Lancer jogged over to Saber as Berserker's body fell to the ground. Lancer noticed electricity seemed to be flickering around her blade, flaring up whenever she moved the sword.

As they got close Saber called out "That was Ajax, correct?" When they both nodded she continued "I saw him fight during the Trojan War, the two of you did well to hold out against him as long as you did."

"Yeah, if it wasn't for that damn healing ability of his we would have taken him down without a problem," Archer boasted.

Saber frowned "You must be confused, Ajax never had any sort of healing ability."

A deathly silence descended on the trio as Saber's words sunk in. Archer and Lancer looked to each other before looking behind Saber. Their eyes widened as instead of seeing Berserker's body fade away, they saw it getting back up with its head reattached.

"Look out!" Lancer shouted in warning.

But it was already too late, Berserker's hammer was already swinging and Saber turned just in time to raise her arms in a desperate block before it struck, sending her hurtling away.

Archer drew his sword and charged in with a roar, diving over Berserker's hammer to stab into the giant's neck. Only to be swatted out of the air by one of Berserker's massive fists. Archer hit the ground but quickly got back with a mad look in his eyes and a growl.

Lancer realized this must be the trick Archer had been referring to, something akin to the mad enhancement skill that boosted physical abilities as the cost of sanity.

Trusting that this would be enough for his friend to hold out against Berserker, Lancer rushed off to check on Saber.

As it turned out, Berserker had managed to hit Saber so hard that her body had carved a trench through the ground before she had eventually come to a halt at the base of a particularly thick tree. As Lancer arrived, Saber was sitting up and repeatedly opening and closing her right hand with a grimace, while her left hung limp by her side.

He jumped down into the trench and offered the wounded warrior his hand "Can you still fight?"

"Yeah, my left arm took the worst of it so my sword hand is still fine," she answered as she took his hand and pulled herself up.

"I also think I've figured out Berserker's secret," she announced. "The mage that appeared alongside Berserker matches the description we were given for Caster's Master. Because of this, I believe that Caster has been the one healing Berserker."

"So, we're up against a Berserker who is effectively immune to ranged attacks thanks to his shield and is supported by a Caster powerful enough to raise the dead. How do beat them?" Lancer asked.

"We don't," Saber answered, as she started moving back towards the sounds of battle. "At least not here. We need to retreat and come up with a proper plan to deal with them."

"He's not going to let us go without a fight," Lancer said, easily keeping pace with the Amazon. "Do you have a plan?"

"We can't kill him, but we can hurt him. You and Archer create an opening and I'll cut one of his legs off," she answered.

"Got it," Lancer replied before taking off in a sprint as Archer and Berserker came into view.

Berserker had his left-hand pressing down on Archer's chest while his other held his hammer up, ready to bring it down on Archer's head. Archer for his part had stabbed his sword into the forearm of the hand holding him down and was furiously twisting the blade around inside the arm, but with healing magic being cast on Berserker, it only served to irrtate the giant.

Lancer came in from Berserker's right, and went for the shoulder of the arm holding the hammer, but Berserker saw him and moved his hammer to deflect Lancer's attack to the side.

Lancer's momentum carried him past Berserker, but he quickly recovered and came at Berserker again. This time he charged at Berserker's left, the same side that was holding down Archer.

Lancer hoped this would be enough to force Berserker to release Archer, but it seemed the giant had other ideas, as he picked up Archer and threw the heroic spirit into Lancer's path.

Berserker's tactic succeeded in stopping Lancer's charge, but Lancer succeeded in distracting Berserker.

The giant, so focused on Lancer and Archer, never saw Saber rush in behind him, and with an upwards swing she cut straight through his right leg just below the hip.

As Berserker tumbled down with an agonised roar, Lancer thought that was it.

Unfortunately, Archer, still in the grip of mad enhancement, tried to rush the downed giant. Knowing that Berserker was still dangerous in his current state and would be back on his feet before long, Lancer quickly grabbed Archer from behind, dragging him backwards as the bowman kicked and flailed in an effort to get loose.

That was until a voice cut across the park "Archer! I command you, put your sword away and retreat!"

The bowman instantly complied, even in his maddened state he was incapable of resisting the effect of a command seal. As soon as the sword was away Archer stopped struggling and Lancer let him go.

"Sorry about that," Archer apologized before they looked in the direction the shout had come from, to see Shirou, Rin and Reines gathered.

"Talk later, run now," Saber commanded as she took off towards the gathered Masters, picked Reines up and leaped off into the night.

Lancer and Archer followed her example, with Lancer having to be a bit more careful upon discovering his Master had managed to break his shoulder.

As they leaped across the city rooftops, none of them, not even the ever-talkative Archer said a word. They had been expecting their alliance to give them an unfair advantage in the war. They had thought reducing the competition down to the three of them would be a simple matter. Yet here they were. Running from their first battle with their tails between their legs. The night had been a harsh wake up call for all of them.

* * *

Ophelia lowered the binoculars she had been using and let out a quiet "Oh my God."

She then turned to Don Quixote and declared "That was so freaking awesome! That was like full-on actual magic! That chick was making all those explosions! And the dude in white had legit super-speed! The guy with the swords was pretty cool as well I guess, but the other two totally out did him!"

"Indeed, the Masters in this war seem to possess exceptional skill," Quixote agreed with a confidant smile, "but I am sure they shall prove no match for you, after all you managed to summon the best Servant there is!"

"Yeah, sure, whatever," she replied off-handedly as she went back to looking through the binoculars. She noticed that the guy in white had finally managed to get away from the weird silver woman. Lucky him, that chick was scary.

When her Servant remained silent she lowered the binoculars and turned to see him looking at her with a serious expression on his face. "Oh shit, you were being serious, weren't you?" she asked, not bothering to hide the worry on her face. When Don Quixote nodded, she took several steps back away from her Servant and the edge of the rooftop they were standing on.

"Fuck that! I can't fight those guys! They're monsters!" she exclaimed, panic filling her voice.

Don Quixote frowned, clearly disappointed by her answer. "I see," he said slowly. "Then I suppose it would be best to get you to the overseer so you can be withdrawn from the war. This event is not one for the faint of heart."

Ophelia felt a wave of guilt wash over her. Don Quixote had explained the basics of the war to her on their journey here. Explaining how all Servants in the war were here because they had some wish they wanted fulfilled and were reliant on their Masters in order to stay in this world and fight for their wish.

Her desperate wish had already been granted when he had saved her, yet now that it came time for him to get his, she had no way of aiding him and returning the favor. "Yeah, you're right," she agreed.

"At any rate we will have to wait for tomorrow. There's no way to get to the church without drawing the attention of the Master and Servant still down there, and it would be dishonorable to fight a warrior so soon after such an intense battle," Rider declared in a sombre voice.

* * *

 **AN: So here we have the first mage fight and the first proper Servant battle of this story. The Mage Association vs Einzbern faction war has begun!**

 **Please let me know what you thought of the chapter. As always, constructive criticism is appreciated.**


	8. Old News

**AN: Man this chapter took waaaay too long. I'm really sorry about that. I'll try to do better in the future.**

 **On a more positive note this story made it past 100 followers last chapter! Thank you all for your support and a special shout-out to LincDawg who was the 100th follower. And an especially big thank you to my beta reader for putting up with the multiple rewrites of big sections of this chapter.**

 **Editor/Beta reader: Korzark (check out his stuff if you haven't already)**

* * *

Lord El Melloi II stared at the massive map of Melbourne and its surrounding areas that covered almost all of the dining table. He looked for what was at least the 14th time between his notes and the six points he had drawn on the map.

The points represented the intersection of ley lines, invisible lines of mana generated by the world that could be drawn from by mages, with intersections of these lines forming nodes that where often highly sought after by mages setting up a workshop. While there were a total of six intersections, most of them were intersections of minor lines and he estimated only two of the six would have enough power to generate the mana required by the grail.

One thing he had been able to discover though, was that the ley lines seemed more powerful than what he was use to seeing. He chalked this up to mages being both new to this continent and few in number, leaving the ley lines largely untouched.

He had done all he could for now, but tomorrow he would have to head out with Gray to check the points.

As he walked out of the dining room he had appropriated as his study, the actual study in the house being far too small and crammed full of the owner's belongings, the front door opened. As he turned to the door, he expected to see just Shirou and Rin or just Reines, but was instead treated to the sight of all three walking in with their Servants in tow.

Reines was easily the best off of the six, with her hair a bit messier than usual and a dark look on her face being the only change from when she had left. The others, well… they were a mess.

The Servants all sported a wide variety of cuts and bruises, with Penthesilea's left arm a bloody mess hanging unnaturally limp. Luckily due to their nature as heroic spirits, emphasis on the spirits, a night to rest and draw on mana from their Masters would have them fixed up in no time.

The same could not be said for Rin and Shirou. Rin had a few scratches and he noticed from the way she leaned to one side that she had most likely damaged her ribs. Then there was Shirou. If the way Lancer was holding him up was any indicator, the boy was the worst off of the lot, and it was impossible not to notice the state of his right arm.

Unlike Penthesilea's arm, which looked like all the bones between her wrist and shoulder had been crushed, Shirou's arm seemed to have been attacked at the shoulder, leaving the rest of the arm untouched.

El Melloi carefully hid the surprise he felt at seeing the state they were in. Having a team of three Servants was meant to give them an unparalleled advantage, so why did they all look so sorely beaten?

"I'll grab the first aid kit," the Lord said, directing his words to Rin and Shirou. "Lancer, take Shirou in there," he gestured to the room he just left "and Archer, if you take Rin up to her room, I'll send Gray up with another kit."

The Servants nodded and the Masters didn't show any resistance as exhaustion and injury weighed down on them as they half-walked, half-got-carried to the respective rooms.

It took a few minutes for El Melloi to find the first aid kits they had brought as not everything had been unpacked yet. When he returned to his study, he saw Lancer standing by Shirou, who was sitting down with an expression that showed he was clearly deep in thought.

The Lord could only imagine what train of thought the boy was on, that was enough to block out the immense pain he should be feeling from his arm.

El Melloi placed the wooden box that was the first aid kit on the table. He flicked open the lid to reveal an assortment of items a bit too supernatural for your usual first aid kit. This was why the box was wooden not plastic, all the better for preventing mana leaking out of its contents.

"What happened out there?" he asked as he pulled a few items out of the box and laid them on the table. "You said you were just going to visit the overseer and I doubt they did this to you."

The sound of his voice snapped Shirou out of the trance like state he was in, but as he made to answer, he instead screwed his eyes shut and took in a sharp breath as the pain finally registered.

"This should help," El Melloi said as stuck what looked like a circular band-aid on Shirou's neck. The boy let out a sigh of relief as the pain faded and the Lord went back to sorting through the items.

"We were ambushed as we left the Church by Berserker and the Einzbern Master," Shirou explained.

El Melloi handed a scalpel to Lancer and instructed him to cut Shirou's shirt off before continuing his conversation with the injured Master.

"I thought you were prepared for that. It was even the same set up you told me you encountered during the fifth war. You even had Reines and Saber there to help. So why on Earth did you all come back looking like such a mess?"

The image of a blond man in brilliant gold armour flashed in front of his eyes, but he quickly dismissed the thought. Gilgamesh had been killed, and he doubted any of the Servants would have survived if he was the one they had been fighting.

Despite the question being directed at Shirou, it was Lancer that answered. "Berserker wasn't alone. We believe he was being aided by Caster."

The revelation caught El Melloi off guard and he turned to Lancer with a surprised look on his face. The Servant returned the look with a dead serious expression.

El Melloi took a step back from the box and raised a hand to rub his temples as he let out an exasperated sigh "This war just got a lot more complicated."

"What can you tell me about the Servant's you fought today?" he asked Lancer.

"Berserker is Ajax the Greater, a hero of the Trojan war, equal to Troy's greatest. He has a sword that seems to negate the effect of mad enhancement that all Berserker's have. Then there' also his shield, Rho Ais, the ultimate defence against thrown weapons. As for Caster, all we know is that they are an incredibly powerful healer. I don't know if it was a Noble Phantasm, but they were able to put Berserker back together, even after Saber decapitated him." Lancer answered as he finished up cutting away Shirou's shirt.

With the garment gone, El Melloi could now see just how unnaturally out of place his shoulder looked, as well some ugly bruising forming on both his shoulder and his chest.

El Melloi didn't immediately respond to Lancer's statement, instead picking up what looked like an A4 piece of baking paper. He walked around behind Shirou and placed the paper against his back, then after sending a pulse of mana through the paper, pulled the paper away and looked at the diagnosis now printed on the side that had touched Shirou's back.

As he read through the list he came to one conclusion; this kid was a whole lot tougher than he looked. Apart from the obviously dislocated shoulder, he had also managed to crack his shoulder blade and break several ribs with a hairline fracture down his sternum.

Lancer let out a low whistle as he read the list over El Melloi's shoulder. The mage whispered some instructions to the Servant before moving back in front of Shirou who looked to be on the verge of passing out.

El Melloi picked up a wooden wedge and held it in front of Shirou's mouth. "Bite down on this," he instructed.

When Shirou just gave the piece of wood a confused look, El Melloi continued "It's wood from an ancient tree in Germany's Black Forest, harvested during the winter solstice, it has-" He stopped talking as Shirou bit down on the wood rather than keep listening.

Not a moment after Shirou had bitten down on the wedge, Lancer grabbed the dislocated shoulder, and in one swift motion pulled it back into place.

Shirou's shout of pain was muffled by the piece of wood, as his eyes widened from the sudden burst of pain and the adrenaline that quickly followed.

"It has the ability to stop you biting your own tongue in half," El Melloi said, finishing his earlier sentence as he removed the wedge that now had noticeable teeth marks in it.

The mage then grabbed a piece of white cloth and wrapped it around Shirou's shoulder as Lancer held the limb in place. As he finished wrapping the cloth hardened, fixing both the arm and the broken shoulder blade in place.

"That should speed up the healing," El Melloi explained, at Shirou who was glaring at him. "Now can you explain why you look like you tried to wrestle a gorilla?"

"Caster's Master," he explained bitterly. "He was an Einzbern homunculus, seems to be geared towards physical combat but also has some magical ability. He was able to go crazy fast, enough to easily outpace reinforcement magic and he wasn't doing it in short burst either."

"Hmmm, anything else you can tell me about him?" El Melloi asked as he started to tend to Shirou's other injuries.

After a few seconds of silence Shirou answered "He looked like my dad, and he said he was the closest thing dad had to an actual son."

El Melloi nodded, as the pieces came together in his head. "He was probably using innate time control then," he concluded.

Both Shirou and Lancer looked at him with a mixture of confusion and surprise. "How do you figure?" the young mage asked.

"You know of Magic Crests, correct? The method of transferring a family's power and knowledge down through the generations?" El Melloi replied.

Shirou nodded.

"Well these Crests are implanted in a mages body, and can't be passed down to someone who isn't a biological member of the family. You, for example, could never have inherited Kiritsugu's Crest. But if someone were to make a homunculus using his DNA…" the Lord trailed off, trusting Shirou to be capable of filling in the blanks.

"So then," Shirou said slowly as he processed the information, "innate time control, that was my father's magic, and you think this homunculus has his Crest. That's what you're saying right?"

"Indeed. I don't believe it would be possible for him to manipulate time on the level you described without it."

"But Kiritsugu's been dead buried for years, and his Crest with him. How would they have gotten it?" The young mage looked up at the lord with an almost pleading expression, as though he knew the answer already, but was desperately hoping someone would suggest an alternative.

El Melloi sighed before answering, "I can only assume the Einzberns dug him up and carved the Crest out of him."

Shirou's blood boiled as he left the dining room and made his way to the second floor. He considered himself a forgiving guy, but digging up graves, making a twisted clone of his father and kidnapping his friend? That was beyond what he was willing or able to forgive.

He had known some twisted people before, Gilgamesh, the heroic spirit bent on global genocide, being one that came to mind easily. But it had never been this personal before, never attacked something so sacred to him, and it inspired a new level of anger he didn't know he was capable of.

He saw the door to his room open ahead of him and watched as Gray stepped out with a first aid kit just like El Melloi's. She went to close the door, but upon noticing him left it open.

For his part, Shirou moved to the side to let her past but otherwise didn't acknowledge her. He was far from being in a mood to puzzle over the many questions her appearance raised.

He entered the room and turned to close the door, reflexively reaching out with his right hand. Only for pain to flare out from his shoulder as his arm shifted in its sling, reminding him of his injury.

Before he could make a second attempt on the door, Rin reached past him and closed the door herself. He turned to see his girlfriend of five years standing there in a dressing gown, with a section of tightly wrapped bandages being visible over her chest, before descending below the gown.

"That looked like it hurt," Rin said sympathetically as she looked at his injured arm with obvious concern.

"It's fine," Shirou assured her.

When Rin looked unconvinced he elaborated. "El Melloi gave me something for the pain," he said as he pointed to the patch on his neck. "How are your injuries?"

"Nothing major," she replied, as she lifted her gaze from his arm to look him in the eye. "My ribs are a bit bruised but that's the worst of it."

"That's... good," he said. While their injuries certainly weren't a good thing, they were lucky to get off this lightly, and Shirou knew things could have ended much worse had Reines not intervened when she did.

Rin hummed in non-committal agreement as she glared to the side, a look Shirou had come to recognise as her thinking face.

He stepped past her and moved towards the bed when her voice called out "We need to talk."

"Can it wait till tomorrow?" Shirou asked with a sigh, as the exhaustion from the days events set in and mixed with his bad mood.

"No," Rin adamantly declared. "This is something I should have talked to you about long ago, and it's because I kept putting it off that that bastard was able to use it against us. And I need you to hear my side of the story."

If there was any doubt in Shirou's mind about what their talk would be about, Rin's statement banished it. He felt bad admitting it even to himself, but in the face of the connection between Immanuel and his father, thoughts of Sakura's parentage had been pushed to the side.

He took a moment to recall all of what the homunculus said during their fight before he spoke. "Sakura's your sister," he said as he sat down on the edge of the bed.

It wasn't a question but a statement and Rin nodded in confirmation and gave a quiet "Yeah."

Shirou remained silent as Rin took a seat next to him on the bed.

"She was born Sakura Tohsaka. She was my precious little sister and we were practically inseparable," Rin explained a tone of something unfamiliar in her voice. Regret? Longing? Or just nostalgia for a time and a connection that couldn't be recovered.

When a minute passed without anything more being said, Shirou's curiosity won out over his dread at what the answer might be and he asked "What happened? Was she sold?"

Rin shook her head "She wasn't sold. She was given away."

Shirou took a deep breath to calm himself. He couldn't deny the anger that swelled within him on hearing about how his friend had been treated, but he knew something like that wouldn't have been Rin's decision and getting angry at her would solve nothing.

"Why?" he asked after several seconds of silence.

Rin breathed deep before answering. "In mage culture, only the firstborn is taught magic. Even if the two children have equal potential, the second child will live a normal life potentially living her entire life never knowing of the great power they wield.

"This is the fate that should have awaited Sakura. Unfortunately, the magic power of the Matou family had been drying up, with Shinji being born incapable of using magic. Given the long history between the Tohsakas and the Matous, it was only natural that my father would decide to help them by giving them Sakura, so she could become their heir, and their line could continue," Rin explained.

Shirou's left hand clenched into a fist as he listened to Rin's explanation. He didn't know which was worse; the cold logic of the explanation coming from someone he knew to be so passionate, or the fact that Rin recited like it was something she had told herself countless times, in a desperate attempt to rationalise her sister being taken away.

"Why didn't you tell me about this?" Shirou asked through gritted teeth.

"I'm sorry," Rin said as she pulled her knees up to her chest. "I know I should have told you. But it was apart of my life I wanted to forget. I know that might sound awful, but not long after Sakura was taken away, my father was killed in the fourth Grail War and an attempt on my mother's life left her crippled both mentally and physically.

"And I know it's selfish but we were so happy together in London; for the first time in my life I thought I might actually be able to forget it. I thought we might be able to live our lives free of all the trauma we experienced in Fuyuki."

Shirou sat quietly as he processed what Rin had said and tried to imagined what that would have meant for Sakura growing up.

He knew Shinji's pride was a delicate thing and Shirou knew how violent he could get in trying to defend it. That, combined with the shy and docile personality Sakura had back when Shirou first met her, and the fact that it was a younger girl that was replacing Shinji as heir, made for an unpleasant image.

Unpleasant enough that you could hardly blame someone in that position for seeking revenge, Shirou found himself thinking. The sort of revenge that killed the family patriarch and hospitalised your sibling.

"You just wait," Rin continued, now looking up with a determined expression. "We'll get Sakura back and I'll make things right with her, and be the big sister I should've been."

"If it's not already too late."

Shirou had meant to say that in his head, but judging from the confused look Rin was giving him, he'd said it out loud.

"What's that meant to mean?" Rin asked as she stood up and moved in front of him.

"When that thing," he refused to say it's name aloud "dislocated my shoulder, he whispered in my ear 'Sakura isn't my prisoner, she's my partner'."

"So what?" Rin argued. "He was trying to mess with our heads the entire fight. What he said was nothing more than another attempt."

"But doesn't it make sense?" Shirou countered as he stood up, all the day's frustrations filling his head with a strange energy. "The Einzberns were able to defeat Zouken, a powerful mage, in his own territory, in an instant. That doesn't really make sense when you were able to take down a Caster back in high school! Doesn't that suggest at least some help from someone who knew him?"

"Are you seriously suggesting that Sakura is helping him?" Rin asked, the disbelief clear in her voice.

"You can't deny it's a possibility," Shirou insisted.

The evidence was all there; her Grandfather and brother violently dispatched, yet Shinji had said nothing about them raising a finger against Sakura. And then there was the sudden appearance of a second heroic spirit alongside the Einzbern master.

Rin was meant to be the realist among them, how was she not seeing this?

"How can you say that?!" Rin shouted. "Sakura is your friend! You know she wouldn't do something like that!"

"Do I?!" he yelled back. This wasn't like him, but after the day he had had, yelling felt good. "Because I know you a lot better than I know her, and if today is any indication, I don't know you nearly as well as I thought I did!"

A expression of hurt and guilt took over Rin's face as she said "She's my sister. I know she wouldn't," her voice quiet and desperate to believe what she was saying.

Shirou's next words slipped out even as he desperately tried to pull them back "She hasn't been your sister for the last sixteen years."

The sound of Rin's hand striking his cheek echoed through the now silent room like a gunshot.

His cheek stung but it was nothing compared to the pain he felt as he looked at Rin's expression.

She glared up at him with a furious expression, even as tears ran down her face, and Shirou had never hated himself more than he did at that moment.

"I should go," he said quietly and quickly made his way out of the room.

Reines was angry. That much Saber could easily tell from the young girl's crossed arms and the glare she had been giving Saber for the last five minutes. Saber for her part had spent those five minutes stood at attention in front of her Master, not making a sound, while her ruined arm dripped blood onto the bedroom floor. The injury didn't bother her. As a Servant, she was a spiritual being, and all she needed to heal the wound was time and a supply of mana.

What did bother her was her Master's silence.

In the short time Saber had known her, Reines had always seemed to have something to say. Seeing her so silent for so long was unnerving. Of course, Saber knew the reason for her Master's current mood. How could she not when she herself was the cause?

She had acted without her Master's permission in a combat situation. In her time, such an offense was punishable by death. Hopefully her Master wouldn't seek such an extreme form of punishment, or the war would be over for both of them.

As it was, Saber was relieved when the young girl sitting on the bed in front of her finally spoke. "You disappoint me Saber," Reines said as she looked at Saber with an expression of contempt.

Saber bowed her head "I sincerely apologise for any slight I made against your authority. I shall not do it again."

It was galling for a former queen such as herself to act subservient and be talked down to like this. But she could not avoid the truth that she had done wrong by her Master. And as much as it might hurt her pride, her pride wasn't nearly as important as her wish.

"See here's the thing," Reines said, tilting her head to the side as she looked Saber up and down. "I don't believe you."

Saber raised her head and opened her mouth to argue, but Reines kept talking, standing up as she did. "I believe, that if we were to find ourselves in a situation similar to last night, you wouldn't hesitate to disobey me again."

"Archer and Lancer could have died!" Saber argued "If I didn't step in-"

"Their stalemate with Berserker would have continued," Reines cut in. "They are both skilled and powerful in their own right. All you accomplished was overplaying our hand. Now the Einzberns know we control the three knight classes.

"Not to mention Ajax likely recognised you as well, and since Archer used his Noble Phantasm, that is two-thirds of our Servants the enemy now knows all about. We only know about one."

Saber took a deep breath to calm herself before asking "What would you have had me do?"

"How about waiting for me to finish tracking the healing magic, that was being cast on Berserker and the Einzbern Master? Waiting for me to find Caster, so you could take out Berserker's support? Is that so unreasonable?"

Saber suddenly found herself feeling something she hadn't felt in a long while. She felt foolish. She couldn't believe she had been so naïve, as to think her Master had been doing nothing but spectating while her allies fought.

"I apologise. I admit I underestimated you and misread the situation," Saber said, her apology as genuine as the frustration leaking into her voice. It was true her mistake had been far greater than she realised, and her eagerness to fight had cost them the battle. But she refused to accept that she alone was at fault. "But this could have easily been avoided, had you simply told me your plan."

"Oh I'm sorry," Reines replied sardonically. "I was under the impression that we had started to trust each other after our chat in Fuyuki. Even ignoring that, the foundation of our relationship is that of Master," she pointed to herself "and Servant," she pointed at Saber.

"And I was under the impression you understood that Servant wasn't synonymous with 'mindless drone'," Saber growled back.

Saber had expected some level of shock or surprise from Reines when she said that. Instead a vicious grin appeared on her face.

"I don't think I like your tone," Reines said as she raised her right hand to show off her command seals. "Maybe I should use one of these and have you remove your own tongue."

Saber bit down on the urge to make a retort. The power of the command seals made Reines' threat a very real one, and while Saber wasn't sure is Reines would follow through; she didn't like the look in the girl's eyes that dared her to push her luck.

Realising Saber wasn't going to reply, Reines kept talking. "No, I think I have something much better in mind in order to keep you in line."

"What might that be?" Saber asked. Then as an afterthought added "Master."

"I'm glad you asked," Reines answered with a smile. "You see, I had the weirdest dream last night. I was on a hunting trip in a forest with my sisters. Except I don't have any sisters. Not to mention I hate forests and would never indulge in something as horrid as hunting my own food. So, I realised that what I was seeing was one of your important memories."

Saber already knew what memory Reines had seen. After all, there's was only one hunting trip that contained information that could be wielded against her. And as she imagined what Reines might do with this information, she experienced a feeling that no Amazon, especially a daughter of Ares, should ever allow themselves to feel. Fear.

"Now there's a delightful expression," Reines commented as Saber felt the colour drain from her face."Whoever would have suspected such an act of deceit from someone in the Saber class? I surely didn't."

"You don't need to do this," Saber tried. "I swear, on my honor, that from this day forth I will follow your orders without question."

"And I wish I could believe you," Reines answered "but my trust, once lost, is not so easily regained."

"Please, Master-" Saber started before Reines cut her off.

"No. You do not get a say in this," she declared. "The spear from that hunting trip, you still have it, don't you?"

Saber nodded. That spear was her curse, she couldn't escape it even after death.

"I thought as much," Reines continued. "From now on you will follow my orders to the letter. If you do not, then you will spend the rest of the war wielding the spear you stained with your sisters blood."

In that moment, the traitorous thought crossed her mind that she could kill Reines right here. She was fast enough that the girl would have no chance of defending herself, and her blade was so sharp, she wouldn't feel a thing. The details of that hunting trip would die with the girl and she could take on of the other mages in the house as her Master.

But even as her uninjured arm itched to hold a sword, she knew she couldn't. No matter how wicked this girl seemed, Saber had come here to erase the sins of her past, not add to them.

"I will not fail you," she said instead, her voice barely a whisper.

"Wonderful. Now let's see about healing that arm of yours."

Sakura was lying restlessly on her bed when she heard the car pulling up in front of the manor.

Wasting no time, she got up and quickly made her way to the front door. There was no doubt in her mind as to who it was that had arrived. After all, excluding heroic spirits, there was only one person who knew about this place that wasn't currently here.

She arrived at the top of the stairs that lead down to the entrance hall, just in time to see the front door open. A relieved smile appeared on her face as Immanuel stepped inside, looking battered but whole.

As she made her way down the stairs, Immanuel looked up at her and smiled. Sakura doubted he knew it, but that smile of his was just like the one Shirou would use to tell her he's fine.

The comparison only made her worry more as she got closer, and noticed how worn out he looked. His usually straight backed posture had given way to a slouch, and as he moved away from the door, he staggered for a moment before recovering his balance. Then there was his usually pristine suit, now covered in dirt and littered with cuts lined by dried blood.

"Are you okay?" she asked worriedly as she reached the bottom of the stairs.

Immanuel seemed confused by the question for a moment before looking down at his ruined outfit. "Oh. Yeah, Caster was healing me faster than they could hurt me, so I'm fine," he said dismissively, as he started to walk further into the manor. "I do think this is the most exhausted I've been in my entire life though."

"Being healed isn't the same as being okay," Sakura argued as she kept pace alongside him. "What happened out there?"

"Well it turns out we weren't the only ones to come up with the idea of forming a team. Someone has managed to unite all of the three knight classes."  
Sakura gasped "Did one of them do this to you?"

"One of the Servants? No, this is courtesy of a liquid metal golem," Immanuel answered. "I'll give the details later. Do we have any left overs in the fridge?"

Sakura's mind reeled from the bizarre information Immanuel had delivered so casually. Her experience from the last war mainly composed of her brother coming home in varying levels of frustration, yelling at her if she ever asked about it, and ending with Shirou calling her to say her brother was in the hospital.

To have information given so easily and more promised later was… weird. "Yeah, we still have some of tonight's dinner left over. Honestly, more than I expected survived Mr Musik's appetite," Sakura answered.

Immanuel laughed "As much of a pain as Gordes might be, Berserker was great out there tonight. He fought all three Servants by himself!"

"That is pretty amazing," Sakura agreed with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. She was glad that Immanuel had such strong allies, but she was starting to wonder how she could fulfil her promise to help him win the war.

"Having Assassin launch surprise attacks while Berserker distracts the knight classes should be a decent enough strategy," Immanuel mused out loud. "But that golem is going to be a bit of a problem," he added with a sigh, as he brought up a hand to scratch the back of his head.

The action drew Sakura's attention to his hair. It had come undone during his fight and Sakura found she preferred how it currently was, with most hanging loose and the odd strand or clump sticking out at random angles, to his usual neat style.

"I suppose I'll just have to come up with something after I've eaten and gotten out of these clothes," Immanuel decided, his words snapping Sakura's eyes away from his hair as what he said caught her attention.

Sakura quickly moved to stand in front of Immanuel, planting her feet and looking him directly in the eye. "What did you just say?" she demanded.

Immanuel looked at her, blinking in what she could only guess was surprise. "Uh… I'm going to come up with a way to deal with the golem," he said uncertainly.

"When were you planning on doing this?" Sakura prompted.

"Tonight. After I've had a chance to eat and change," he answered hesitantly.

"That's funny," Sakura said in a voice devoid of humour, "I was sure I heard you say just a minute ago that you were more exhausted than you've ever been. Yet here you are planning on staying up even longer."

"I'm getting the feeling you think that's a bad idea," Immanuel added unhelpfully.

"You need to rest!" Sakura declared.

"What I need," Immanuel insisted, "is to find a way to deal with that golem."

"Well we do have a master alchemist with us. Wouldn't it be best to have him come up with something?"

"That," Immanuel started, sounding like he was going to argue the point, "is actually a really good idea."

"You probably would have thought about it yourself if you weren't exhausted," Sakura replied, dismissing his praise.

"I guess I really do need some sleep. Well now that my schedule no longer involves working through the night and sleeping the day away; any suggestions for what I should spend the day doing?"

"Whatever you usually do to have fun and relax," Sakura suggested with a shrug, her determination fading now that Immanuel had agreed to rest. It took Sakura a few seconds to realize that Immanuel hadn't replied and was instead awkwardly staring past her. "Just checking but, Immanuel, you do know what fun is right?" Sakura asked hesitantly.

"Of course," he answered a little too quickly, "fun, noun, enjoyment, amusement or light-hearted pleasure."

Sakura felt a pang in her heart as he recited what sounded far too much like a dictionary definition. She was fairly sure she knew the answer to the next question but she asked regardless. "Have you ever had fun before?"

"Do our conversations count?" he asked with a smile.

Sakura just stared at him silently.

"Had to try," he sighed as the smile slipped from his face, and he turned so he could lean back against the wall of the passage they were in. "The truth is, the Einzberns don't care for fun. And between everyone treating you like you're a disappointment and having all the knowledge and skills needed to fight a war against mages being magically forced into your head; there weren't any opportunities for it."

"Well in that case there's only one course of action for tomorrow," Sakura said after a moment of silence. Immanuel looked at her with a curious expression as he waited for her to elaborate. "You and I are going into the city and I'm going to show you what fun is!"

* * *

 **AN: So yeah, Shirou kind of lost it back there. Hopefully it didn't seem out of character, after all the guy has just had a really awful full of shocking reveals including, but not limited to, the fact that his enemies have defiled the corpse of his hero. Speaking of which, in case you were wondering, no I have not forgotten about Kiritsugu's curse.**

 **Also I hope I didn't botch the lore in terms of ley lines. I tried to find information on the wiki about them, but the wiki was annoyingly unhelpful.**

 **As always, constructive criticism is appreciated.**


	9. New Bonds part 2

**AN: Hey guys, this is another .5 chapter, just something for you while I work on the next chapter. I don't want to say when the next chapter will be done as I am terrible at keeping to schedules, but it shouldn't be nearly as long as the gap was between chapters seven and eight.**

 **Editor/Beta-reader: Korzark**

* * *

Lancer looked out over quiet suburb from where he sat on the roof. The view was so different from anything he had seen during his life that, if it wasn't for the knowledge granted to him by the grail, he would think he had found himself on another world.

As his eyes took in the distant towers, that shined like they had captured the very stars from the night sky, he couldn't help but marvel at how much humanity had progressed since his life.

His musing was interrupted as Jack sat down next to him, with a light clinking sound of glass coming from a box Jack set down by his side.

"You up for a drink?" the soldier asked as he reached in to box and produced a bottle of wine.

"How do you keep finding all this alcohol?" Lancer asked as he accepted the bottle.

"I was exploring the house and found a massive cellar filled with the stuff," Jack answered as he grabbed a bottle for himself.

As the World War Two veteran went to raise the bottle to his lips, it was snatched from his hand. Lancer and Jack turned to see a fully armoured Saber standing behind the Archer class Servant.

"I don't think this belongs to you, and as such I will be confiscating it," Saber declared.

Lancer heard Jack start to complain, only for the words to trail off as Saber raised the bottle to her lips and took several large gulps before lowering it with a satisfied sigh.

"Well look at you," Jack said with a laugh. "If you wanted to join us, all you had to do was ask."

"A queen does not ask to join a party," Saber explained as she dispelled her armour and sat down on Lancer's other side. "She is either invited, or she invites herself."

"This isn't really a party," Lancer pointed out.

"More like two losers about to drink so much, they forget how badly they just got their asses kicked," Jack added.

"A queen does not ask to join that either," Saber said as she took another swig.

Lancer gave a quiet chuckle as he took a sip from his own bottle and resigned himself to another night of heavy drinking. At least this wine went down a lot easier than that sake stuff Jack had introduced him to in Fuyuki.

"The more the merrier," Jack said as he retrieved another bottle from the box. "I just hope you can hold your liquor better than Enkai."

Lancer rolled his eyes as Saber laughed "Don't worry Archer, people that can out drink an Amazon are few and far between." To emphasise her point she placed her freshly emptied bottle down and gestured for another.

Lancer looked in quiet surprise between the empty bottle and the seemingly unfazed queen, her hand still outstretched as it waited for a replacement. He looked back at Archer and a look of understanding passed between them. As one, they tipped their heads back and chugged the remainder of their bottles.

It was a waste of good wine, but as a slight buzz started to set in, Lancer discovered that he didn't really care. Without having to ask, he found another bottle soon pressed into his hand, and a comfortable silence descended over the trio as they stared out at the cityscape and enjoyed their drinks.

"Man, Berserker was something else," Jack commented idly before his tone turned serious. "Last time I had my ass kicked this badly I lost my entire company."

Curiousity won out over tact and Lancer found himself asking "What happened?"

The usually upbeat archer took on a sullen expression "We uh… we were taking back some of the German held islands around Yugoslavia. Orders arrived to take a hill marked Point 622. It was heavily defended, but we were supposed to be supported by fifteen-hundred partisans so we were confident.

Neither Saber or Lancer dared breathe a word, as Jack gazed out at the city with a thousand-yard stare and recalled his story.

"We started to advance and made it halfway up before we realised something... the partisans weren't coming. By that point we had passed the point of no return, and any attempt to retreat would lead to a massacre. We had no option but to keep fighting and hope we could survive by taking the hill."

"In the end, only six of us made it to the top of that hill. And only I left it alive. Even then, it was as a prisoner of war," Jack finished. Then after a moment of silence he turned to them, though Lancer was sure Jack was looking past him, at Saber, and said "I guess what I'm trying to say is; I'm really glad you came to back us up in that fight. It's good to know we've got a reliable teammate with us."

"Anytime Archer," she replied with a smile that didn't reach her eyes. She quickly knocked back another large swig of wine before asking "How much more of this stuff do we have?"

"I got two more bottles here, but there's plenty more in the cellar," Archer answered.

"You should probably bring some more up here then," Saber said as she set her second empty bottle down. Her words were phrased as a suggestion but spoken like a command.

Shooting Lancer a confused look, Jack gave a quick "Okay," before getting up and leaving. A few moments of silence passed after Jack left before Saber spoke up.

"Pass me another," Saber said, holding out a hand towards Lancer. Making a judgement based on how fast she had been drinking, Lancer instead grabbed the box and handed that to her. Saber said a quick "Thanks," as she put the box down next to her and grabbed one of the last bottles.

"What's the deal with that sword of yours?" Lancer asked. "I can't recall any stories of you wielding a famous sword." He didn't really care about the answer, he just figured it would be an easy enough topic of conversation to use to avoid an awkward silence while they waited for Jack to return.

"That's because I never wielded it in life," Saber said. "It is a treasure of the Amazon people and I wield it now through my authority as Queen of the Amazons."

Lancer wasn't sure how to respond to that. He'd hoped that there would be more of a story behind the sword, but if there was, it didn't seem like Saber was interested in sharing it. He opened his mouth to try start a new topic of conversation but was cut off when Saber spoke first.

"Did I make the right call tonight?"

The question caught Lancer off guard. "Why? Did someone say you didn't?" He tried to imagine what might have led Saber to question her decision, but nothing came to mind.

"You haven't answered my question."

Lancer took a moment to think about his words before answering. "If you hadn't joined the fight, either Archer or myself would be dead right now."

"You sound so certain of that, yet last I checked you seemed to be holding out just fine against Berserker," Saber replied with a note of surprise in her voice.

Lancer laughed "Clearly you and I have different definitions of 'just fine'. It was taking all I had to avoid being annihilated by him. Berserker on the other hand, is known for spending an entire day fighting Troy's greatest champion to a standstill. With that in mind which of us do you think would be the first to get worn out?"

"So, I… saved you?" Saber asked uncertainly.

"Sure did. I guess that makes you my hero or something," Lancer answered with a smile.

Saber laughed, and it wasn't just a chuckle, but a full-bodied laugh "I don't think anyone's ever called me their hero before."

"Well get used to it," Lancer said. He wasn't sure if it was the alcohol's doing, but Saber's new-found mirth was contagious. "Your title is now Penthesilea; Queen of the Amazons, Heroic Spirit of the Sword and Hero of Enkai!"

"Penthesilea the Hero! I think I like the sound of that," Saber said as she raised her bottle up, only to have it stop short of her mouth.

"What's the problem? Finally hit your limit?" Lancer asked.

"Not even close," Penthesilea answered with a smile as lowered the bottle. "I've just recently found myself unable to agree with Archer's sentiment about forgetting tonight."

Archer watched silently from several meters back as Enkai and Saber talked and laughed. It seemed that in his absence the two had grown closer, not just in terms of friendship, but in a literal sense as well with the two now being so close their shoulders were touching.

There was nothing wrong with getting along with one's allies, but if things between the two got too friendly it could complicate things later on. After all, when it came down to it the Holy Grail War was not fought between groups of Servants, but seven individual Servants.

All alliances were temporary, even with the bond between Shirou and Rin, there could only be one winner and Archer knew he would eventually find himself facing off against Lancer for real. But until then, Lancer's allegiance should be to his master first, Rin and Archer second and their team third. If Saber messed with that order, that was going to cause problems.

When all is said and done it will be everyman for himself, and Archer didn't fancy his chances against Saber if Lancer decided he didn't want to fight the queen. As Saber's head came to rest on Enkai's shoulder, Archer realised what he had to do.

There were many he knew that would consider what he was about to do an unforgivable sin, and he couldn't find it in himself to disagree, but there was no doubting it had to be done. As he moved towards the pair he took a deep breath to steel himself. Hopefully one day Enkai would be able to forgive him. But for now, he was going to have to cock-block his friend.

* * *

 **AN: Come on Lancer, bros before incredibly-dangerous-warrior-queens-that-can-annihilate-you. Now you've forced Archer to break the bro-code.**

 **As always, constructive criticism is appreciated.**


	10. New Experiences

**AN: Imagine how much more popular this story would be if I could update frequently.**

 **Editor/beta-reader: Korzark**

* * *

Immanuel eyed the crowd warily from the comfort of the shade produced by one of the many storefronts in Melbourne's inner city. On Sakura's recommendation, he had changed from his usual all white suit, to white jeans and a purple dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up.

His observations were an annoying balancing act of trying to take in as much as possible, while trying to avoid letting his eyes show too much. His unnaturally pale complexion already drew enough stares as it was and his crimson eyes were bound to garner even more attention.

In fact, it was in an effort to resolve the problem of his eyes, that he was standing here trying to be inconspicuous, while Sakura was browsing a rack of sunglasses being sold by a street vendor. Apparently, the process of acquiring a pair of sunglasses was a lot more complex than he had imagined, for Sakura had been staring at the options on display for several minutes already, and seemed no closer to completing her purchase.

He was about to go speed up the process himself, when he saw Sakura grab two pairs of glasses off the rack and hand the vendor the appropriate payment. As she made her way over to him, a smile on her face and the glasses she had purchased hidden behind her back, Immanuel stepped away from the wall he was leaning on and stepped into the sunlit street to meet her half way.

"Here you go," Sakura said cheerfully as he held a pair of sunglasses out to him. He looked down at them, and the first thing he noted was how very pink they were. The lens itself was a dark enough black to hide his eyes, but the thick round frames were the brightest shade of pink he had ever seen.

"Thank you," he said as he picked the glasses up and put them on. For some reason this seemed to surprise Sakura, who looked down at the hand that had held the glasses with a shocked look. Her eyes then tracked up until they met his and she made a strange choking sound and looked down. He was about to ask if she was alright, only for her to burst out laughing.

After a few seconds of laughing, she seemed to be getting it under control. Then she looked back at him and the laughter started all over again. Her laughter was contagious and he soon found himself chuckling as well. When he did, Sakura stopped laughing and looked at him with an expression he couldn't decipher.

"What is it?" he asked around the smile that refused to move from his face.

Sakura smiled "It's nothing. I just thought you had a nice laugh."

It was at precisely this moment that Immanuel came to the sudden realisation that his pale complexion did not mesh well with the Australian sun. Yes, that must be the reason for the sudden heat he was feeling in his face. He was slightly annoyed to discover Sakura didn't seem to be suffering similar symptoms, in fact she was once again laughing.

He looked around for somewhere undercover and noticed that a fair few of the people walking past were looking at them. It made him realise he had let his guard down when Sakura came over and all the attention was starting to make him feel uncomfortable.

Wanting to get out of sight and out of the sun, Immanuel grabbed the hand of the still lightly laughing Sakura, and started to lead her towards a building that advertised itself as a cinema. Whatever that was.

As they walked, neither noticed the blonde girl with red eyes that watched them from afar with an amused smile.

* * *

Despite it being almost midday, Ophelia was still rubbing sleep out of her eyes as she approached her sister's shop. The spectacle she witnessed just last night had left her with so much energy that she hadn't fallen asleep till the early hours of the mourning. In fact, the only reason she was awake right now was because her new supernatural companion had woken her up and said something about wasting the day.

Arriving at the shop she tried to open the door only to find it locked. Her body moved on reflex, pulling out her key and unlocking the door without even considering why it was locked. When she opened the shop door, she noticed two things: the first was that her sister was with a customer, a man in a black suit with long straight black hair, and that they were in a room that shouldn't exist.

Behind the counter, where there was meant to be a shelf, was instead an opening to a room she had never seen before. It was better lit then the rest of the store, and from what she could see from where she stood, weird didn't even begin to explain the items that lined the shelves of this new room. But the thing that confused her the most was that the she knew that the shop's storeroom went straight through where this room was. Not to mention that the shop didn't extend back as far as this room suggested it did.

The door closed behind her with an audible thump and both her sister and the customer looked up from something they'd been discussing. Claire's look of surprise quickly changed to a smile, but the customer's expression took on a strange intensity as he left the strange room and approached her at a brisk pace.

Ophelia heard her sister call something out, but her attention was fixed on the customer. When he pulled out a coin from his pocket and flipped it into the air, her eyes followed the coin as it rose into the air. And for a terrifying second the world went dark.

When her awareness returned, the scene before her had changed drastically. The customer was now fully restrained by several vines that had grown out of the pot plants situated around the room. The vines' thick and dark appearance reminded her of the Devil's Snare from Harry Potter, though judging from how the guy was weirdly calm and still tightly restrained, it was safe to assume that was where the similarities ended.

The customer's calm demeanour was particularly impressive, considering Rider had also appeared and was pressing the point of a lance against his neck, while Claire had come out of the weird room and had one hand held out towards him, but her expression was one of terror as her gaze cycled between the customer, Ophelia and someone she had never met but recognised instantly.

The distinctive spear and blue cape undeniably marked him as one of the fighters from last night. He stood to the side of Rider and had the point of his spear resting against the underside of the knight's chin. Up close, she could now see the tattoos that decorated his body and the muscles that looked like they belonged on a statue of a Greek god.

But more than that, she felt a strange pressure coming from him. She had felt something similar whenever Rider was near, but what she felt from the dark-skinned spear-man was far more intense. In an awed whisper she spoke the title Rider had guessed belonged to this man. "Lancer."

She guessed from the way that his eyes briefly flicked to her before going back to Rider, that he was indeed Lancer. Her attention was then pulled away as the restrained customer spoke up with a British accent. "I've already undone the hypnosis spell, so how about you get rid of these vines and we can save all this mess for when the sun goes down?"

"O-or I could just kill you now," Claire said. Ophelia imagined her older sister was trying to be intimidating, but that was a hard thing to do when stuttering and shaking like a leaf.

The customer seemed like he was about to reply but Ophelia cut him off "Wait a sec, did you hypnotise me?"

Mr tall, dark and British turned his head towards her. "Yes, my apologies. I mistook you for a non-magus and was about to remove the memory of what you had seen in here. Though I must say it's quite unusual for a magus not to be able to resist such a simple hypnosis spell."

"You can manipulate people's memories?! That's how you keep magic a secret isn't it? That's so cool!" Ophelia exclaimed.

The customer turned, or at least turned as much as he could in his restraints, back to Claire with a deadpan expression "Are you sure she's a magus?"

"You're not wiping my sister's memories!"

"Yes, we've established that. Now can you please get rid of these vines and tell your knight to point that thing somewhere else?"

"Don-" Ophelia started, before some she remembered that, among the mountain of information Rider had given her about the Holy Grail War, giving out her Servant's name was a really bad idea, "Rider. Move your lance away."

Rider did as he was told and lowered his lance, but no one missed how he kept his grip on the lance and how his eyes never left the other man. Lancer in turn moved his spear away from Rider's chin. The customer gave her an odd look, likely equal parts surprised and unimpressed that she was the one commanding Rider. Whatever the cause, his gaze didn't linger on her for long as he turned back to Claire.

"And the vines?" he asked.

"W-why should I? You're obviously a Master in this war. If I let you go you'll just come after my sister."

"Actually, I'm not Lancer's Master," The customer countered. "I'm just their ally, out running an errand. So, you could kill me if you wanted to, but it wouldn't save you from Lancer. And while you decide what you're going to do with me, I would like to remind you that we were in a business transaction that I would like to complete."

"If you're not his Master, then doesn't that mean you aren't in a position to order him to attack us?" Ophelia spoke up and asked.

The question caused the customer to pause for a moment before turning back to her "Well I suppose that's true. However, he has already demonstrated a willingness to act in my defence."

"Then we don't need to fight!" Ophelia exclaimed.

The customer looked at her silently for a few moments before saying "Do you not understand the concept of a war? If you are in this war then conflict is inescapable for you. You may not have to fight me, but Rider will almost undoubtedly have to fight Lancer and perhaps others as well."

"You're wrong!" Ophelia insisted.

"Oh? And how am I wrong?"

"I'm forfeiting from the war. You said you weren't a Master, that means you could take over as Rider's Master!"

There was a long moment of silence as the customer looked and her in a way that felt like he was seeing into her very soul. Only for the tension to be immediately broken by the sound of the customer receiving a text message. The customer turned his head back to face Claire and asked "Can you just let me go so I can check that?"

"No."

"Fine," the customer said with an exasperated sigh, and a moment later the vines flashed with bright light before crumbling to ash. Rider made to move towards the customer, but before he could move an inch, the spearhead of Lancer's weapon was resting against his neck. With a glare and low grumble Rider reluctantly stepped back into place.

The customer ignored the Servants movements and Claire's shocked expression, pulling out his phone, reading the message, looking at her, typing a quick response and then putting it away. "Be at St Peter's Cathedral tonight. The Overseer there will be able to transfer Rider to my control, and they can protect you until the war ends."

Ophelia felt like a weight had been lifted from her as the customer turned away from her and moved back towards the counter, brushing ash of his suit as he went. "I would like to purchase the item we discussed earlier, if you don't mind."

Likely still recovering from the shock of how quickly and easily the man had seized control of the situation, Claire nodded dumbly before going into the impossible room and taking a box off one of the shelves. "A-are you paying for it now or do you have an address you'd like me to send the bill to?" Claire asked, the routine of a transaction somewhat helping her deal with the mage who seemed to have her completely outclassed.

"Could you send the bill to the Clock Tower?"

"Sure, but I'd need something to prove you're a member of the staff there."

"Is this sufficient?" the customer asked as he pulled his wallet out and removed some sort of ID card from it.

Ophelia heard Claire's sharp intake of breath from across the store, but had to struggle to make out what she whispered next. "You're Lord El-Melloi."

"Lord El-Melloi II," the apparent lord corrected. "Is that a problem?"

"N-no," quickly stammered out with a shake of her head. No other words were said as Claire quickly filled out the details of the purchase in a thick ledger. Once done, El-Melloi picked up the box with a small nod and a word of thanks, and made his way towards the door before stopping next to Ophelia and withdrawing a business card.

"If you have any questions, call this number." Ophelia tentatively took the business card, and without another word El-Melloi left, taking Lancer with him.

The moment the two left Claire slumped to the ground with a loud sigh of relief. Ophelia moved around the counter to check on her sister to see her sitting on the ground and shaking.

"Hey sis, you alright?" Ophelia asked.

"That man is dangerous."

"Yeah, I kinda figured from-"

"No! You don't understand," Claire cut in, the fear obvious in her voice. "This guy is a Grail War veteran! He competed in one of these wars fifteen years ago, and according to rumours he killed his teacher during that war. This same war claimed the life of one of the most powerful mages in Japan, is the last known sighting of an assassin called 'The Mage Killer', and over five-hundred innocent people lost their lives.

"Yet this guy, who was about your age at the time, walks away without a scratch. That's like if…" Claire paused for a moment as she searched for the right way to explain it, "the battle of Hogwarts took place when Harry Potter was second year, and Harry killed both Dumbledore and Voldemort."

"Woah," Ophelia said as she joined her sister on the floor, "that's intense."

"Master, do you really plan on yielding the war?" Rider asked from the other side of the counter.

"Are you kidding me? You saw him, you heard what Claire said. There's no way I would stand a chance against a guy like that!" Ophelia exclaimed, the sheer scale and danger of the war hitting her a lot harder now that it had shown up on her doorstep. "Besides, you'll be better off with a guy like him as your Master anyway."

"That maybe so, but I did not come to this time to answer his summons," Rider said, sounding a lot more sombre than she was use to, before turning away and dematerialising.

* * *

It may be a bit early, but Sakura was pretty sure she could already call her plan a great success. They hadn't done much yet but wonder around some local markets and catch a movie, but she had already seen Immanuel smile and laugh more today than in the entire time she had known him.

That is of course if she didn't count all hollow laughs and forced smiles he wore most of the time. Her time at the Matou and Emiya households had made her personally familiar with the difference between that and the genuine article.

They were currently sitting across from each other at an outside table of a local restaurant, waiting for their lunch to arrive. As they waited, Sakura told him about some of her fond memories from Fuyuki, most of which revolved around the Emiya household and the school's archery club. Immanuel listened intently as she spoke, still wearing the hideous pink sunglasses she had brought and she had to fight the urge to laugh every time she looked at him.

It was as she was retelling a story about her old English teacher, Ms Fujimura, that she was interrupted by the sound of the chair next to her being pulled out. Before she could turn to see who had pulled out the chair, she froze as a hand wove itself into her hair and she heard a feminine voice with a British accent speak up.

"I love this colour. You simply must tell me how you get it." The speaker was to Sakura's right and a bit behind her, but when Sakura tried turning towards them to ask them to move their hand, they gripped her hair painfully tight, stopping her from moving and drawing out a pained gasp. "Sit down Immanuel," the stranger said calmly. "We're only enemies when the sun goes down. I'm just here for a chat."

Sakura's attention had been so completely stolen by this stranger, that is was only now that she realised he was standing up, his sunglasses discarded, and was aiming a vicious glare over Sakura's shoulder. "I think we'd both prefer to avoid making a scene in public," the stranger said, as the fingertips of their other hand came up to rest against her neck, and Sakura felt a cold liquid spread from the point of contact until it completely encircled her neck.

Reluctantly, Immanuel sat back in his seat and the grip on Sakura's hair relaxed a bit. "You know my name, but I don't think I caught yours last night," Immanuel said. It didn't take long for Sakura to remember exactly what Immanuel had been doing last night and figure out that the woman next to her was another Master in the war. And given what was currently around her neck, it was likely this was the same Master that had sent the liquid metal golem after Immanuel. With this in mind, Sakura moved her right hand, the one that bore her command seals, under the table as subtly as possible.

"If you must know, my name is Reines. Reines El-Melloi Archisorte," the stranger introduced herself. "And I know more about you then just your name Immanuel Von Einzbern."

"E-emiya," Sakura corrected, fighting against the instinctive fear that told her to keep her mouth shut.

"I beg your pardon?"

"His name is Immanuel Emiya. Not Einzbern." Sakura still couldn't turn her head so instead she looked at Immanuel as she said it. And she saw was a look of surprise cross his face, as though the thought of someone standing up for him out of their own free will baffled him. The expression was only there for a heartbeat, before he regained composure and went back to glaring at Reines, but the image was already seared into Sakura's mind.

"Is that so?" Reines asked in an amused tone. "My friends neglected to inform me of that. Though I must say, that name seems familiar. Where might I have heard it before?"

"It was the name of the Mage Killer. He was a bit before your time, but there are probably still a few at the Clock Tower that remember him," Immanuel answered. His expression took on a cruel smirk as he continued "Particularly the El-Mellois, as it was Kiritsugu Emiya that reduced your uncle to a pathetic cripple, before finally putting him out of his misery. And who knows, maybe history will repeat itself here."

"Yes, that must be it," Reines said, before pulling painfully on Sakura's hair. "Or maybe I know that name, because you share it with Tohsaka's boy toy." Sakura's blood turned to ice in her veins, and Immanuel was glaring at Reines with a new level of intensity.

Sakura heard Reines shift in her seat, and when the girl next spoke, Sakura could feel the girl's breath brushing past her ear. "He knows you're here. In fact, last time we spoke he had a most interesting theory about your involvement in this war. Would you like to hear it?"

Hearing that Shirou knew she was here brought up a mix of feelings in her. The thought of him coming to try help her gave her a feeling of excitement, but knowing the Einzberns were watching him and the level of danger he would be in if he involved himself with the war terrified her. Then there was Reines' amused tone as she asked the question, that put her on edge.

The British mage must have taken her silence as confirmation, for she went on talking. "A Caster Servant takes the fight to the Matou household, the place where your grandfather Zouken would be most powerful, and defeats him in an instant. They then turn their attention to your older brother, a young man with no capacity for magic, a boy that poses no conceivable threat and put him in hospital."

Reines paused for a moment here and directed her next sentence at Immanuel "I wonder, were Shinji's injuries caused by you or Caster?"

"Does it matter?" Immanuel answered tersely.

"So it was you then. I suspected that was the case, but thank you for confirming it." Sakura was pretty sure she could hear Reines' smile as she turned her attention back to Sakura. "And amongst this violence you emerge without a single scratch. Then, surprising everyone, the next time Immanuel shows up he has a new Servant by his side."

"If you're going somewhere with this, hurry up and get there or leave," Immanuel cut in.

"The point I'm trying to make little homunculus, is that Shirou knows Sakura was abused by the Matous," Reines' words had tears welling up in Sakura's eyes as she tried to shrink into herself as much as the mages' grip allowed. She had done everything she could to hide the abuse she had suffered from Shirou, finding out that he knew caused a feeling of shame to well up inside. But it did nothing to prepare her for what Reines said next.

"And he believes she made a deal with you." As she said this, Reines hand left Sakura's neck, though the ring of liquid metal remained, and reached under the table and with a surprising amount of strength, pulled her Sakura's right hand back out and onto the table, revealing her command seals for all the world to see. "The death of Zouken in exchange for her help in winning the war."

"Y-your lying. Shirou wouldn't say that," Sakura protested, but her words sounded weak even to herself. She wanted to believe her own words, but something in the way Reines delivered her words, speaking with the confidence of someone who knew the truth was more damaging than any lie they could concoct, made Sakura believe the girl. Despite herself, Sakura could feel tears that had welled up start to run down her face.

Before the tears could start to running too fast to be stopped, she was pulled out of her stupor by a new sound. It was the sound of Immanuel laughing, but not like she had heard him laugh before. This was not a hollow laugh or one of genuine mirth, it was a deep and cruel thing that sent a chill down Sakura's spine, and through the grip in her hair, Sakura could feel Reines tense up at the sound.

"You know, I thought the Mage Association were going to be a serious threat in this war," Immanuel said once his laughter had died down. His eyes were focused entirely on Reines and the red of his eyes seemed to glow. "But if the pitiful display your servants put on last night and this pathetic example of our information gathering abilities is the best you can manage, well, this war going to be over within the week. In fact, since I'm such a nice guy and you're so hopelessly floundering around, I'll give you a freebie and clear up a misunderstanding you have.

"I have made a deal with Sakura for her assistance in this war, and I also made a deal on the condition of Zouken's death. Your mistake is in assuming these deals are one and the same."

Sakura's breath caught at Immanuel's blunt admission of premeditating the murder of her grandfather, while her mind raced to figure out who might have known both the Einzberns and the Matous well enough to have one perform a hit on the other. It was a short list.

"So what? You honestly expect me to believe that her pathetic excuse of an older brother, would make a deal to put himself in hospital?" Reines questioned, but her words lacked their usual confidence.

Immanuel shrugged "People have done stranger things. But if you know half as much about Sakura's past as you think you do, then maybe you should re-evaluate how much faith you place in the words of your 'allies'."

There was a tense silence for a few seconds, before Reines let out a small chuckle. "You really are an amusing little thing. If we weren't on separate side, I might even like you."

"Thank God that didn't happen," Immanuel cut in.

"But sadly, by tonight we will have the unquestionable numbers advantage when it comes to Servants in this war," Reines continued, ignoring Immanuel's interruption. "So be a dear, and be at the Church tonight to face your death with dignity."

With that said, Reines released her grip on Sakura's hair, and Sakura breathed a sigh of relief as the liquid metal jumped from her neck to Reines' hand as the girl stood up.

"Good luck little homunculus, you're going to need it," the British mage called over her shoulder as she walked away.

* * *

Shirou sat cross legged on the ground in the house's study, he stretched out his good hand, and with a pulse of magical power the curved blade of Kanshou appeared before him. He picked up the blade and inspected it. It was a good weapon, reliable, and with its partner Bakuya it was easily the weapon he was most familiar with. But against an opponent like Immanuel he was going to need something else, something capable of negating his insane speed and levelling the playing field.

He would have liked to activate his reality marble and see how Immanuel held up against a torrent of infinite swords, but Shirou still lacked sufficient power to pull someone into the reality marble on his own. It would be possible with a mana transfer from Rin, but with their recent fight the chances of that happening were slim.

Instead he put Kanshou aside and cast his memory back to the fifth war and Rule Breaker, the dagger used by Caster. A bizarre jagged and iridescent blade, thin, brittle and blunt, but most importantly, capable of dispelling and destroying any kind of magic.

And with another pulse of magic Rule Breaker appeared in his hand. He inspected the blade, and as he did, a morbid part of his mind wondered if, as a homunculus, a mere scratch from Rule Breaker would be enough to kill Immanuel.

His dark thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the study door. He quickly stood and moved over to the door, pulling it open to reveal the figure of Gray standing there.

"Uh hi, can I help you?"

"My master wants to speak to you," she said, holding out a phone towards him.

Shirou picked up the phone with a quick word of thanks and put it to his ear, "Hello?"

"Mr Emiya, how's your arm feeling?" the voice of Lord El-Melloi said from the phone.

"It's fine," Shirou answered reflexively as he moved back into the study, leaving the door open for Gray to follow, "though I doubt you called just to ask about my arm."

"You're half right. We may very well be having our decisive battle with the Einzbern faction tonight so your ability to fight is of some concern. But more importantly, I'm going to need you to be at the Church tonight to keep up our ruse in front of Reines."

"Has she caught on?"

"No, I don't believe so. However, in order to reduce the chance of her coming to suspect our ruse, I told her that the only one in the Grail War capable of transferring Servants is the Overseer, and we're about to have a new Servant transferred into our control."

"What?! How did you manage that?" Shirou exclaimed in shock. His mind instantly flicked back to the ways Servants had been transferred, or attempted to be transferred, during the last war. Caster attempting to pull them from his body, Caster stabbing both Archer and Saber with Rule Breaker, Caster being betrayed and murdered by Archer, Shinji being able to acquire a new servant after his original had her head twisted a full three-hundred-and-sixty degrees.

Aside from the unique circumstances that resulted in him being gifted command of Lancer, all the other instances involved some degree of violence. Shirou couldn't help but wonder what the Clock Tower Lord had done in order to get someone to hand over something as powerful as a Servant.

"I stumbled across Rider's Master. She's a young girl inadvertently drawn into the war, so I gave her a way out."

Shirou released a breath he hadn't realised he had been holding. "That's a relief. For a second I was worried you had done something awful."

"Oh? Have I done something to give you the impression I'm some sort of villain?"

"Well there's all those stories that go around the Clock Tower about you, plus you wear a lot of black and are always scowling. But I guess I shouldn't have judged you based on rumours. Turns out you're actually a pretty nice guy."

There was a moment of silence over the line, and then, "You do remember that you have a Servant in this war, exclusively, because I'm planning on betraying my adoptive younger sister, right?"

"Well... when you put it like that..."

There was a sigh from the other end of the line, "Just be at the Church tonight. I need you to pretend to be Rider's new Master."

"Why don't you just take Lancer back?" Shirou asked.

"Because Rider is the weakest Servant I have ever seen. Our plan will work a lot better if you keep hold of Lancer."

"Oh."

"Indeed. I should also inform you that Reines encountered Immanuel in the city and I had her provoke him enough that he will likely be at the Church as well tonight, so be ready for a fight," El-Melloi said and then the call ended.

As Shirou pulled the phone away from his ear, he looked at it as though it might give him some insight into the man he had just spoken to. He really wasn't sure what to think of the guy.

On one hand, the guy was concerned enough about the greater good that he gave up his shot at a wish in the hope that Shirou would be able to do it better than him. And now if his words were to be believed, he was saving a young girl from the horrors the War could bring about.

Then on the other hand was the unavoidable fact that he was plotting against his own sister, and while Shirou didn't pay much attention to rumours, there were so many floating around about the Clock Tower's youngest lord, that it was impossible to avoid them. If half of what he had heard was to be believed, the guy was a combination of Sherlock and Moriarty with magic thrown in. To say such a description didn't inspire trust was an understatement.

"Um, excuse me?" the quiet voice of Gray asked, pulling him from his musings. "Can I have my phone back now?"

"Oh, right, thanks for letting me use it," Shirou said as he handed the device back. He then moved back over to where he had been practicing his magic earlier and sat down. He was about to start making sword again, when he realised Gray was still in the room.

"Was there something else you needed?" he asked.

"C-can I watch?" the girls asked nervously after a moment of silence, gesturing to the swords lying on the ground. Once again Shirou was struck by the disparity between Gray's physical resemblance to Artoria, and their wildly different personalities.

"Uh, sure," he replied. With permission granted, she kneeled down in front of him as he held out his hand and conjured one of the many swords available to him. It wasn't anything special like Kanshou or Rule Breaker, just an ordinary sword, well made, but with no special abilities.

He handed the sword to Gray who inspected it, turning it over, tapping it, almost like she expected it to be hollow or something.

After a few moments of her inspection, she looked up from the sword and asked "What's the most powerful sword you can make?"

"I'm not sure," Shirou answered honestly. With his ability to recreate a sword from a single glance, it was more a question of what was the most powerful sword he had seen. The answer to that was easily Gilgamesh's Ea, but something about that sword defied his ability to analyse things, and as a result there was no way he would be able to reproduce a sword like that. Next on the list was Excalibur. He had never tried it before, but he figured it was worth a shot.

He recalled the image of the legendary sword, and channelled his magic, not in a pulse like before, but a concentrated burst. The air flickered and then… nothing. Shirou blinked a couple times in confusion before trying again. This time instead of releasing his magic in a burst, he let it out as a continuous stream. He focused on the image of Excalibur in his head and it almost felt like there was something there, brushing against the fingertips of his left hand; yet when he tried to focus on the details of its construction, the image became hazy.

He could feel his mana flowing out, so he knew something must be happening, but after a minute of nothing appearing in front of him, Shirou admitted defeat with a dejected sigh.

"I'm sorry," Gray said as she stood up. "I must be annoying you and stopping you from focusing. I'll leave so you can continue your practice."

As Gray started moving towards the exit, Shirou made to stand up as well "That's not it at-" only to freeze half-way through and brace himself for a flare of pain, as he realised he had reflexively used his injured right arm to push himself up.

Except the pain didn't come. Cautiously, Shirou tried moving his shoulder, ready for a stab of pain. And once again there was nothing.

More confidently now, he tried some bigger movements. Then bigger again. It didn't take long to figure out that his shoulder had made a full and miraculous recovery.

This wasn't the first time his body had healed itself at an impossible rate. Though those previous instances had all been during the last Grail War, and there was something, or more accurately someone, that had been present then but wasn't now.

He looked towards the doorway that Gray had long since left through. He had a theory on how this might have happened, but he would need to talk to Lord El-Melloi to confirm it.

* * *

 **AN: Next chapter it's back to the fight scenes that everyone comes to the fate series for.**

 **As always, constructive criticism is appreciated.**


	11. New Problems

**Editor/beta-reader: Korzark**

* * *

If a night time meeting with someone as intimidating as Lord El-Melloi II wasn't bad enough, the lack of people on the streets as she got close to St Paul's Cathedral, had Ophelia on the border of hyperventilating. It was only the fear of what would happen if she stayed in the war that kept her moving towards the church.

As she got closer, she could make out eight figures standing on the steps of the holy site. None of them seemed relaxed, but they also didn't look like they wanted to start a fight, which was a little reassuring. The most easily recognisable of the group was Lancer, as there were only so many people that walked around in little more than a blue cape while carrying a spear.

El-Melloi was there as well, but he had changed out of his suit. Instead he was wearing loose black pants and what she guessed was some sort of body armour made of black material with silver highlights.

She also noticed he wasn't the only one wearing such armour. In fact, four of the others were wearing it as well, like a kind of uniform. Ophelia found it easiest to sort these unnamed people by their hair colour. So, the only guy besides Lancer and El-Melloi was dubbed Orange, the girl next to him was Black, a girl with a silver briefcase next to her became Yellow, and the last of what she come to assume were mages, she named Grey.

And the last member of the group was unmistakably the Saber Servant from the previous night. And as Ophelia got closer, she once again felt a weird pressure emanating from Lancer, but it was almost lost in the pressure she felt coming from the woman adorned in Greek armour.

Rider appeared at her side as she stopped at the foot of the stairs. Despite her best attempts to stop it, she found herself visibly shaking as all eight of the gathered people looked down at her.

"Are you ready to go ahead with the exchange?" Lord El-Melloi asked from the top of the stairs.

Ophelia took a shaky breath and tried to answer but her throat seized up and no words came out. Rider gently laid an armoured hand on her shoulder, and when she looked up at him, he didn't say anything. He just gave her a look that asked if this was what she really wanted.

There was something in his expression that told her, if she said she wanted to fight, Rider would fight Lancer, Saber and all the assembled mages here and now without hesitation. But she had a theory about the strange pressure she had been feeling from the Servants. If it was right, then Rider wouldn't stand a chance against even one of the two Servants here.

This was what was best for both of them. Maybe Rider would even be able to pull-off an underdog victory with a proper mage as his Master.

Having found her resolve, Ophelia took a deep breath, but before she could answer the mage lord, another voice called out from down the street "Is that pathetic excuse for a Servant what you were bragging about, Reines?"

Those assembled at the stairs turned as one to see an unnaturally pale man in a white suite, and equally white coat, standing about a hundred metres away, with the most muscled man Ophelia had ever seen, who also had the hilt of a sword emerging from his chest, standing next to him.

"I'm so glad you were able to make it Immanuel. Tell me, do you have a preference on how we deal with your remains, or is it fine if we just leave them in the gutter?" Yellow, or Reines as the pale man had called her, asked.

Ophelia took a step away from the mages and Servants on the steps as the Servants readied their weapons and the mages took stances that suggested they were ready for combat at a moment's notice. Except for Reines, who stood proud with her hands on her hips

"Such harsh words," Immanuel said as he strolled forward, seemingly unfazed by the obvious danger assembled on the Cathedral steps. "And to think, I was considering letting you live, for doing me such a favour in bringing all the people I need to kill to one spot."

As he spoke, Ophelia had been walking backwards as Rider put himself between her and the new arrivals. Then everything went to hell as Immanuel looked her way, and said "Berserker, start with the weak link."

Berserker answered the command without a moment's hesitation, the superhuman muscles gifted to him as a heroic spirit propelling him forward at almost supersonic speeds. Taking aim and putting all his momentum behind it, Ajax the Greater, hero of the Trojan War, swung down at the poor excuse for a heroic spirit dressed in his worn-out plate armour.

But before the impact, there was a flash of colour and Berserker's hammer stopped dead in its tracks, held at bay by Rider's lance. To say Berserker was surprised by this display of strength would be a drastic understatement.

But it would be far from the last surprise, as the pain from the sword in his chest, that Caster had been numbing and healing, returned with a vengeance. The sudden burst of pain was enough to make Berserker fall down to one knee, while coughing out a mouthful of blood on Rider's armour.

It was this that drew Berserker's attention to another revelation; Rider had changed. Gone was the greying man in poor armour, and in his place, a man in his prime wearing a full and undamaged suit of plate armour that shone a brilliant silver.

Rider stepped back and revealed the greatest shock yet. The entire scenery around them had changed completely. The mages and other Servants were gone, leaving Berserker and Rider in a world where the multi-lane street had been replaced with dry and cracked earth, the high-rise buildings had become mountains of rock dotted with openings and the cathedral was a daunting tower made of a pitch-black stone.

"How-how is this possible?" Berserker struggled out around the blood constantly trying to flood his mouth. A part of him was dimly aware that Lancer must have stabbed him in such a way that it caused his lungs to fill with blood.

"Welcome to my Noble Phantasm, Berserker. Welcome, to how I see the world."

When Berserker and Rider disappeared in front of the cathedral, Archer wasted no time, and from his perch on one of the cathedral spires fired three arrows at the now defenceless Einzbern Master. All three found their marks, lifting him off his feet and knocking him back with the force of their impacts.

As the limp body hit the ground, there was no mistaking that the boy was dead. In the following silence, Archer made his way down to street to stand beside his Master, never once taking his eyes away from the body bleeding out on the street.

Then the same gold light that healed Berserker started to shine from where the arrows had sunk in. A second later the arrows clattered to the ground as they pushed out of the body, after another second, the boy's chest rose as he took a deep breath.

"Well that confirms one theory," Lord Melloi casually said, as though they hadn't just experimented with someone's life. "Lancer."

On the Lord's cue, Lancer moved to the Einzbern's side, covering the ground so fast it looked like he spontaneously appeared there, and stabbed the boy through the chest with his spear. Lancer then reached into a pouch on his belt, something El-Melloi had procured earlier in the day, withdrew a handful of powder and tossed it out over the once again dead Master, then withdrew his spear.

As the spear wound lit up with golden light, so did the powder as it rose up and gathered together into a ball, before speeding off to the east.

Without waiting for the order, Lancer and Archer took off, following the orb that would lead them to Caster. If they could manage this, then the war was as good as won.

Even with how much he hated the guy, watching the two Servants brutally murder Immanuel twice in the space of a minute was not easy for Shirou. That said, he, as well as the other mages gathered on the steps of the church, didn't plan on taking it easy on him.

As the homunculus, with his white suit stained red, got back to his feet, Trimmau, the liquid metal golem, Gray, Lord El-Melloi's apprentice, and Rin and Shirou, the Grail War veterans that had fought Servants one-on-one, moved to surround him.

Trimmau stood in front of him, positioning herself between him and the El-Mellois that remained on the stairs, Gray took up a position behind him, and Rin and Shirou went to either sides. All kept their distance, waiting to see how the Master of Caster would respond.

To his credit, Immanuel looked incredibly unfazed as he surveyed his circumstances. "I must say, I was starting to feel a bit bad about what I would be doing here. After all, I imagine watching your allies be cut down one-by-one can be quite the traumatic experience. But after being killed twice, I can't really find it in me to care."

Reines laughed from her vantage point "You talk a big game for someone in your position." She then turned to her Servant and said "Saber, stay out of this. I'm going to enjoy teaching this arrogant fool some humility."

"You took the words right out of my mouth," Immanuel replied with a vicious smile. Then, with blinding speed, Immanuel reached into a pocket on his coat, pulling out a round glass flask filled with a dark substance, and threw it at Reines through the gap between Trimmau and Rin.

The action was too fast for any human to stop it, but not too fast for a liquid metal golem. As the flask sailed through the air, Trimmau moved to intercept, putting herself in its path even as one arm shifted into a blade and sliced it in half.

Unfortunately, it quickly became apparent that the contents of the flask was meant for Trimmau, and that she had just walked right into Immanuel's trap. The thick, viscous substance clung to the liquid metal blade that had broken its container, and then began to hungrily spread up Trimmau's arm.

Trimmau tried to pull it off with her other hand, only for the liquid to cling to that hand as well and keep spreading. As the liquid passed from its point of origin, the arm it left behind was solid, dull and unmoving. As Trimmau struggled, Immanuel moved with speed only someone manipulating time could achieve, darting between the gap between Trimmau and Shirou that had been opened up by the golem's attempt to protect its master.

Shirou didn't so much see what Immanuel did next, so much as he saw the effects of it. Immanuel threw his coat at Reines, and in mid-air, the coat took on a life of its own, flew towards Reines and coiled itself around her.

The young mage's arms were bound to her sides and her mouth covered, leaving her wide eyed and defenceless against the kick Immanuel delivered to her midriff. It didn't matter that Saber's sword pierced his neck not a heartbeat later, or that a scythe, decorated with the images of terrifying faces, that Gray had conjured punched through his back and out through his chest. The damage was already done.

Unlike Rin and Shirou, Reines was not experienced or trained for combat, and so did not have the reflexes they had. The reflexes that had them instinctively channelling reinforcement magic to an area before a hit landed. And so Reines had nothing protecting her as the impact of the kick lifted her off the ground and slammed her against the walls of the cathedral.

Lord El-Melloi caught Reines body before it hit the ground, saving it from further damage, but even from where he was, Shirou could make out the blood filtering through her blond hair.

"SABER! Get her to the car!" El-Melloi shouted.

Saber quickly complied, pulling her sword out of Immanuel's neck and dashing to Reines' side, where she carefully took the injured girl into her arms, before running off in the direction of their car with El-Melloi following close behind her.

Shirou looked in shock between the now fully stone form of Trimmau, the splash of blood Reines had left on the cathedral, and the rapidly retreating form of Lord El-Melloi. In mere seconds, Immanuel had brutally dispatched half their number.

A vicious laugh rang out across the nearly empty street. The remaining members of the Mage Association collectively looked towards the source. Immanuel, with a freshly repaired throat and a scythe still in his chest, looked at them over his shoulder and declared "Now that those annoyances are out of the way, how about we get started on the main event?"

The homunculus then flicked a coin sized object into the air, and three sets of eyes reflexively tracked it. Only to regret it a moment later when bright light exploded out of it.

Shirou stumbled back, temporarily blinded. He heard Gray cry out, a grunt of pain from Immanuel, and then the sound of something metallic hitting the ground. As darkness was replaced with hazy sight filled with spots, Shirou saw Immanuel standing there, blood stained but free of impalement. The homunculus smirked and strode towards Shirou, stepping over Gray who was doubled over on the ground but seemingly still conscious.

As Immanuel got close, Shirou summoned his swords to his hands even as he struggled to see anything beyond the spots clouding his vision. Only for Immanuel to stop as something bounced harmlessly off the back of his head.

The two men looked down at what had struck Immanuel, a weathered old book with the title Don Quixote, then in the direction it had come from. Standing there, arm outstretched, looking pale and beyond terrified, was the Master of Rider.

"L-leave them alone y-you monster!" she stammered out, visibly shaking the entire time.

"A book? Really? That's the best you could do?" Immanuel asked, turning to face the terrified Master. "Why don't you run along and leave this to those who actually take this war seriously?"

Shirou seized on Immanuel's moment of distraction, dispelling the sword he realised would be useless against someone under Caster's protection, lunged forward and wrapped his left arm around Immanuel's neck.

The Homunculus' reaction was instantaneous and Shirou quickly regretted never learning hand-to-hand combat from Rin. Immanuel leaned forward, forcing Shirou close to his body and almost forcing him up onto his tip-toes. From there Immanuel struck backwards with his elbows, but it was an awkward angle and Shirou had already reinforced his torso.

The elbows didn't last for long as Immanuel quickly changed tactics. The only warning Shirou got was Immanuel grabbing the arm around his neck, leaning back a bit and then lurching forward. The sudden action flipping Shirou over Immanuel's head, giving Shirou a brief upside-down glimpse of the street, before he slammed down on his back.

It was only a serious dose of reinforcement magic that kept him from cracking his head open, but he was still seriously dazed by the impact. As he pulled himself back to his feet, he could see Rin and Gray fighting Immanuel, with the Homunculus falling back across the street.

He looked to Rider's Master, who had fallen to her knees and seemed to be staring off into the distance with an expression that said 'I can't believe I just did that!'

"Thanks for distraction, you should probably find somewhere to hide until this is all over," Shirou said before running off to re-join the fight.

"Uh-huh," Ophelia replied as she watched the orange haired guy race across the street, vaguely aware that she had spoken too quietly and too late for him to hear. She didn't really care though, she was more focused on why she had done something so crazy and the effort was making her feel pretty light-headed.

Actually, scratch that, she was feeling very light-headed. She felt something wet on her lips and wiped it away with her hand. She looked down at the hand to see, to her muted surprise, that it was smeared with blood.

Pushing past the pain in his chest, Berserker charged at Rider with a roar, seeking to end this fight before he got any weaker. To his disbelief, Rider lazily side-stepped the charge and used his lance to sweep Berserker's feet out as he went past.

He was barely able to turn himself on his side in time to avoid landing on his chest, and driving the blade in deeper.

"You can't beat me here Berserker. For I see myself as being stronger than you."

As Berserker pushed himself to his feet, he put the pieces together in his head. This wasn't some weird illusion, Rider had actually pulled him into some sort of miniature, alternate reality, a reality marble you could say. An entire world where everything was as Rider believed it to be.

This created many problems for him, most notably, Rider was apparently unaware of the healing magic he'd been receiving, hence the sword in his chest becoming a serious problem. As it was, the only thing keeping him alive right now was his battle continuation skill. And then there was Rider's sudden boost in power.

But it could also be a weakness. If this world was based on how Rider sees things, then all he needed to do to change the rules here, was change Rider's mind. Berserker smiled. This was going to be an interesting fight.'

Ajax raised his hammer above his head and shouted "If you think a delusion of grandeur is enough to beat me, then you clearly have no idea who I am. I am Ajax the Greater! I fought alongside Achilles! I duelled Hector of Troy for an entire day! And I will not be brought low by some mad man!"

"Then stand ready Berserker," Rider calmly responded, "and face the last true knight of Spain."

Then, as the two opponents stared each other down, weapons at the ready, the world around them shattered and the normal world returned to being.

Berserker was so shocked by the reality marble shattering, and the instant relief of Caster's healing magic returning to him, that he barely noticed Rider dropping his lance and running in the opposite direction.

His first thought was that Rider was fleeing the battle, but instead the knight, once more in shoddy armour, was knelt down, cradling the unmoving form of the girl he had come with.

"Master!" Rider called out to the young girl. Berserker could now see that the girl seemed unnaturally pale and there was a trail of blood coming from her nose. "Master please wake up!" he called again, this time shaking her, but she didn't respond.

Rider was completely distracted. Completely undefended, and weak outside the effects of his Noble Phantasm, there was no better time to land a killing below. It would be so easy. One clean swing and one less Servant in the war.

"Rider! Take your Master and leave! We will conclude our business later," he called out. Rider looked at him with an expression of shocked surprise, that morphed into one of sincere gratitude as he sent Berserker a single nod.

Berserker watched as Rider lifted the unconscious girl up and placed her on a horse that had appeared out of nowhere as only a Servant's steed could. He could have taken advantage of Rider's distraction and killed the man while his defences were down, but that wasn't how he fought. That was how scoundrels like Odysseus fought, and he was better than that.

With his opponent now gone, Berserker took a moment to take stock of his surroundings. None of the other mages were there any more, but there was a strange stone statue just in front of the steps that he was sure hadn't been there before. Also, blood, a lot of blood. Most of it was near the top of the stairs, with a little decorating the cathedral wall close to the doorway.

He could hear the sounds of a fight raging across the street in a place marked Federation square, but could not sense the presence of any of the other Servants. As far as he could think, there was only one reason they wouldn't be here; they were going after Caster.

The fact that he was still receiving healing meant that Caster was still alive, but there was no telling how long that would last against the combined might of Saber, Archer and Lancer. Without a moment's hesitation he leaped away in the direction he knew Caster would be in, unaware of the Amazon that followed him from a distance.

Due to his better speed, Lancer pulled ahead of Archer as their pursuit brought them over a set of train tracks. It was only because of this that Archer saw the sudden explosion of black smoke next to Lancer and the dark clothed figure lunging out of it with a knife in hand.

"Lancer!" Archer called out in warning as he fired off an arrow. He needn't have bothered as Lancer was dodging out of the way before he finished his warning, moving in that strange way of his where it looked like he was being pulled. His arrow was on target though, until the dark clothed figure disappeared in another explosion of black smoke.

The two heroes skidded to a stop in the middle of the tracks and looked around them. The area around them was largely open, a given when it hosted six sets of train tracks, yet there was no sign of their attacker anywhere.

"You felt that, right?" Lancer asked. "In between him appearing and disappearing?"

"Yeah, that was a Servant. The only one we were missing was Assassin, looks like we found him," Archer replied.

"And given how he interrupted out chase, it looks like he's also with the Einzberns," Lancer added.

"Speaking of which," Archer muttered as he caught sight of the golden orb getting further away. Bracing his legs for a moment, Archer leaped off in pursuit of the ball. He made it all of three metres before two feet emerged from another explosion of smoke and kicked him in the chest.

Rolling to his feet as he hit the ground, Archer stood up just in time to see the dark clothed figure of Assassin land on the ground in front of them in a crouch. Now that he was standing still in front of them, Archer was able to get a proper look at their new opponent.

The first thing that stood out was the skull mask covering his face, as the one part of his appearance that wasn't black. The rest of him was covered in tightly fitting black cloth that revealed an almost unnaturally skinny frame.

"I'll try distracting him, you chase the orb," Archer whispered under his breath, trusting his Squad Tactics skill to carry the message clearly to Lancer. Without waiting for confirmation, Archer fired off a volley arrows before charging at Assassin.

Assassin drew a curved dagger and deflected one arrow, dodged another and caught the third in his shoulder before Archer crash tackled him to the ground. As they hit the ground, Assassin tried to bring his knife down on the heroic spirit on top of him, only for Archer to catch his wrist mid swing.

Before Archer could follow up with a punch, his vision went dark for a moment, and when it returned both Assassin and himself were several metres in the air and falling, with Lancer beneath them.

"Look out!" Archer shouted as he reflexively tightened his grip on Assassin's wrist. As Archer got closer to the ground, he saw Lancer dive out of the way, roll back to his feet and keep running, barely slowing in his pursuit of the orb.

Archer, for his part, kept his grip on Assassin's wrists despite the man's attempts to get free, and as they got close to the ground Archer pulled on the wrist, dragging Assassin underneath so he would hit the ground first.

Only for Archer's vision to go black once again, right before they were about to hit the ground, and as his vision returned the wind was knocked out of him as he hit the ground with Assassin on top of him. His grip loosened and it was only through sheer instinct that he was able to block when Assassin tried bring down his dagger down with both hands.

Assassin pressed down harder and Archer could feel the edge of the knife tickling his neck, but he managed to keep it from going any lower. As they struggled, Archer noticed Assassin's eyes flicking between himself and the rapidly escaping Lancer.

Assassin then shifted his stance, then pushed off Archer to go after Lancer. Seeing the move coming, Archer managed to reach out and grab Assassin's ankle, just in time for everything to go dark once more. And as soon as light returned, Archer yanked on the ankle he was holding, dragging Assassin to the ground and causing his blade to miss Lancer's back by millimetres.

The man in the skull masked turned on the ground and kicked Archer in the face with his other foot, and Archer heard a crunch sound as his nose broke. Holding on despite the pain, the World War veteran summoned an arrow to his free hand, and when Assassin tried to kick him again, Archer stabbed the arrow into his leg, right behind the knee.

A pained shout escaped from underneath Assassin's skull mask, but pain turned to agony as Archer snapped the shaft of the arrow and punched what little of the shaft remained deeper into Assassin's leg.

Archer pulled himself up onto his knees as Assassin desperately reached down to his injured leg. Never one to ignore a golden opportunity, Archer delivered an uppercut to Assassin's chin, hard enough to lay the heroic spirit out on his back.

But Archer couldn't stop there, for right before his eyes, golden light was shining from the wound in Assassin's knee. Moving quickly to take advantage of Assassin's stunned state, Archer pushed the arrowhead that was trying to escape Assassin's knee back in, then summoned a second arrow and drove it through the side of Assassin's knee in such a way that it would prevent the first arrow exiting the way it came in.

Focused as he was on his task, it was only Archer's instincts that had him looking up in time to see the knife coming towards his face. Throwing himself backwards, Archer avoided losing an eye by a hair's breadth, but in doing so he had also put distance between himself and Assassin, giving the mask wearing man all the freedom he needed to escape.

But he didn't. Instead Archer saw eyes beneath the skull mask that glared at him with a burning hatred. Eyes that did not even glance in Lancer's direction.

Archer smiled as he thought to himself 'Mission accomplished'.

Archer's smile dropped as he heard a sound, similar to the whistle of incoming artillery but different, filled the air. A moment later, something large hit the ground in front of Lancer, cracking the ground, warping the train tracks and kicking up a massive cloud of dust.

For several seconds as the dust cloud settled, none of the three moved. The pause didn't last long as a strong breeze cleared the cloud away and revealed the bloodied form of Berserker.

Lancer, the closest to Berserker, leaped back to stand alongside Archer. "Looks like Rider failed," Lancer muttered as he landed.

Archer merely grunted in confirmation, as his eyes flicked between the kneeling form of Assassin, the rapidly escaping orb and the intimidating figure of Berserker. He noticed Berserker calmly survey the battlefield and, as though he saw it a moment before it happened, Archer dived to the side at the same time Lancer jumped in the other direction as Berserker covered the distance between them in a heartbeat, and smashed the ground where they had been standing.

Archer summoned his bow to his hand and Lancer readied his spear, both of them prepared for Berserker to follow up the attack. Yet the giant did not move from his new position. Instead he turned to face Assassin, leaving his back exposed as though to taunt them.

"Can you fight?" Berserker asked Assassin.

"Just…give me a moment," Assassin replied as he took his knife and dug it in to the back of his own knee. Archer used the momentary respite as Assassin carved the arrowheads out of his knee to take stock of their situation, and noticed that the orb had completely disappeared from their sight.

"Lancer, we lost the orb."

"I noticed. I've got enough dust for one more use, but…" Lancer trailed off.

"Yeah, I know. Neither of us can survive holding off both Berserker and Assassin alone."

Light shone from the back of his knee as Assassin stood back up, "I can fight now."

"Then lets-" Berserker started before quickly spinning back to face Archer and Lancer and shouting "Rho Ais!" the shield appearing in front of him and angled up, just in time to catch a blur of bronze that slammed into it.

"GO!" the blur of bronze that could now be made out as Saber shouted. The heroic spirit of the sword was crouched on top of the shield of purple light, her blade having pierced through all the layers of the shield, only stopping millimetres from Berserker's eye as the hilt came in contact with the outermost layer of the shield.

Capitalising on their opponent's momentary shock at Saber's dramatic entrance, Archer and Lancer moved as one. Lancer threw his spear so fast that it almost seemed to teleport from his hand, to half-way through Assassin's chest. Archer dashed behind Assassin, planted one foot on his back, grabbed the shaft of Lancer's spear, and in one motion, pulled the spear out through Assassin's back and kicked the heroic spirit towards the rapidly approaching Lancer.

Lancer struck the still reeling Assassin, slamming a handful of the magic dust into the still open spear wound with enough force to double the man over. Lancer then stepped back in time for Archer to come in from behind Assassin with Lancer's spear raised, and drive it through the back of the Heroic Spirit of Assassination, with enough force that it brought the man to the ground and the spearhead bit into the ground beneath.

An orb, just like the first, the first gathered above the first spear wound, and as it started to fly off, Archer removed the spear from Assassin's back and tossed it back to Lancer, who caught it easily as he resumed his pursuit of the orb.

Archer looked down at Assassin, who was already healing from the second wound, "Now, where were we before Berserker interrupted?"

* * *

 **AN: So it turns out there's a lot you can do with a battle between two teams of magical superhumans, especially when one team can't die.**

 **As always, constructive criticism is appreciated.**


	12. New Commandments

**AN: Another long break between uploads. Sorry about that. In other news, I've been enjoying the El-Melloi's Case Files anime that's coming out this season. It's been giving me a better idea as to what Gray, Reines and grown up Waiver act like.**

 **Beta Reader/Editor: Korzark**

* * *

Lancer leapt to the roof of the massive Melbourne Cricket Ground stadium. From his vantage point, he could see the golden orb he had been chasing descend to the centre of the stadium, where a single man stood in a hooded white cloak.

The hooded man turned as the orb came within a metre of him before dispersing into a cloud of golden dust. He then looked up at where Lancer stood and spoke, his words, calm and conversational, somehow covered the great distance between the two of them.

"Lancer I presume?" When Lancer didn't respond, he continued. "If you are here that must mean Assassin has failed in his duties. But the question still remains," at this point the hooded man held his arms out at his sides, showing that he carried no weapon, "do you, a Heroic Spirit, have it in you to strike down an unarmed man in cold blood, and make an assassin of yourself?"

Lancer bent his legs, readying himself to rocket towards his quarry at a moment's notice. "You've made a grave miscalculation, Caster," for there was no doubting who it was that stood before him. "I don't think of myself as a hero, but a hunter, and tonight, you are my prey!"

Lancer launched himself from the stadium roof with enough force to bend the steel supports, and in response to the heroic spirit hurtling towards him, Caster turned and fled towards one of the athlete entrances, his loose cloak billowing out behind him as he ran.

Lancer hit the ground running at the same time that Caster disappeared around a corner in the tunnel. Giving chase, Lancer rounded the corner and came into a locker room. He had a moment to notice Caster on the other side of the room, his back to an exit door, before the pipes lining the ceiling tore themselves from their fixtures and blasted him with water.

The spray caught Lancer off guard but didn't hurt him in the slightest, and he soon emerged, soaked, but no worse for wear. It quickly became clear the spray had only been to serve as a distraction, as Caster was nowhere to be seen. But Lancer had no intention of letting him escape that easily, and charged towards the door he had seen Caster in front of.

* * *

On the train tracks, Berserker's defensive battle against Saber's unstoppable blade was interrupted as Berserker felt an incredible pain return to his chest. It didn't knock him off balance as much as it had in Rider's reality marble, but there was no doubt, Caster's healing had been interrupted.

Without Caster's support, the situation had drastically changed, and Berserker realised that a defensive strategy wasn't going to cut it. He had been robbed of his chance of an all or nothing fight against Rider, but it looked like he was going to get a second chance here.

But before he could go all out, there was one last problem he needed to address. "Assassin! Flee!" The black clothed figure's fight against Archer was only a fight in the loosest sense of the word. It was more accurate to say that Archer was bullying Assassin.

The silent killer's greatest weapon was the element of surprise, but Archer seemed to possess the unfailing ability to predict where and when Assassin would appear. Not only that, but for a heroic spirit that was meant to specialise in ranged fighting, Archer had proved himself an expert of close quarter combat, and had already impaled Assassin multiple times on his own knife.

In short, without Caster's healing, Assassin would die faster than him, and he already had a sword in his chest.

Whether he had picked up on the lack of Caster's magic or just trusted Berserker's judgement, as soon as Assassin heard his words, the skull masked man turned tail, ran a few steps, then disappeared in a cloud of black smoke. With a growled curse, Archer took off in pursuit, leaving Berserker and Saber to face each other alone. As it should be.

* * *

Over in Federation Square, time returned to its normal flow for Immanuel, and it brought with it the violent kickback as the enormous strain of accelerating yourself through time, caught up with his body. He knew to expect the pain; however, he had also come to anticipate Caster doing his best to numb it, and instantly heal him.

So, when the pain hit him full force, he was brought to his knees as he started coughing up blood. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Shirou and Tohsaka pause for a moment at his sudden collapse, but the girl with the scythe showed no such hesitance, leaping towards him with scythe raised.

For the first time in his short life, Immanuel felt fear, absolute, bone-chilling fear, as the Grim Reaper came for him in the form of a five-foot girl.

Muscles screaming in protest, he threw himself to the side and the little reaper took a chunk out of the ground where he had been. Knowing he couldn't continue the fight as things were, Immanuel forced his tortured muscles to stand and start running to the nearby glass door to what appeared to be an art gallery.

He made it within a metre of the door before a white-hot lance of pain shot through his body from his side. Throwing one hand against the door to support himself, Immanuel looked down at the source of the pain, to see blood stained steel looking back at him.

It wasn't the curved blade of the little girl's scythe, but the straight blade of a sword. As he turned to look back at his opponents, he saw several replicas of the sword that had pierced him, floating in the air around Shirou, who looked at him with stoic resolution. The look of someone who had committed themselves to taking a life.

Despite the pain racking his body, Immanuel managed a small chuckle "Your eyes," he paused as he pulled in breath, "look just like dad's."

The statement made Shirou pause, but had no such effect on Tohsaka and the reaper. The Japanese girl threw out a red gem that homed in on his position, at the same time the reaper surged forward to close the distance between them.

It was clear those two weren't used to fighting together, but Immanuel wasn't going to complain as he grabbed the handle of the door behind him and pulled as hard as he could, tearing off the handle and a section of the glass, and with the same action, he hurled his improvised weapon at the red gem.

His aim was as accurate as could be expected from someone literally built for combat, and the gem exploded in the air in front of him, and right next to the scythe wielder. It was close enough that the force was enough to blast him through what remained of the glass door as burglar alarms blared across the gallery.

He could hear the voices of Shirou and the Tohsaka girl calling out from the other side of the smoke screen the explosion had kicked up. As painful as that was, the reaper had been closer and there was no way she was walking away from that unscathed.

Knowing he wouldn't have a better chance to escape, Immanuel pushed himself to his feet, as the sword in his side faded out of existence and the wound started to bleed freely. He obviously couldn't go out the way he had come in, but as he looked across the atrium, he could see glass doors like the ones he had come through on the opposite side, leading out to a street.

Running at a painfully human pace, he started to make his way across the atrium, looking for anything he could use as a weapon or cover. Only to find that the roughly sixty-metre-long atrium was extremely open with only a few small plants, low benches and coffee tables around a café to populate the area.

He made it almost halfway across before a whistling noise had him throwing himself to the floor. An agonising experience to be sure, but preferable to the alternative that was being impaled by another sword, like the one that flew over his head before piercing into the tiled floor.

Instinctively rolling to the side saved his life as Shirou came down with a colossal two-handed sword that could probably only be wielded with the aid of reinforcement magic. Tile fragments were still flying out from the impact when the massive blade disappeared to be replaced with the black and white pair of short-swords that Shirou seemed to prefer.

With the black and white blades bearing down on him, Immanuel tapped into as much of his time magic as he dared and watched as the world slowed around him. Acting quickly, he took off his tie and flicked it behind, the material extending out unnaturally and wrapping itself around the leg of a coffee table. Muscles screaming in protest, he pulled as hard as he could and was rewarded with a look of panic appearing on Shirou's face in slow motion.

Then the world reverted back to its normal speed, the table knocked Shirou back, and Immanuel coughed up blood as he forced himself back to his feet and kept running. Reaching the far door, he didn't bother slowing down or trying to open it, just raised his arms to cover his face and ran straight through it.

Outside once again, he felt an emotion he struggled to recognise as despair as he discovered that the street he had seen, was actually more like a bridge that ran above a large set of train tracks. And so, the only option presented to him was dropping over the railing on the far side and down to the tracks below, risking a dash across almost a hundred metres of open ground to reach one of the ends of the bridge, or going back where he had come from.

The sound of glass crunching underfoot alerted him to the fact that he was out of time, Shirou had caught up, and he had nowhere to run. Turning to face his adopted brother and standing tall despite the immense pain that wracked his body, Immanuel pulled out his trump card.

"I surrender," he said as he raised his hands in the air. Only to immediately wince in pain as the action pulled on his many wounds.

"What?!" Shirou exclaimed, his swords lowering slightly.

"I'm surrendering," Immanuel repeated. "Are you unfamiliar with the concept?" Taking a step backwards towards the railing.

"I know what surrendering means!" Shirou growled as his swords came back up, "I'm just struggling to believe that you of all people would do it."

"Isn't it a little arrogant to assume you know me so well? We've barely talked." Immanuel took another step back.

"We don't need to talk. I already know everything I need to about you."

"Why? Because I'm an Einzbern or because we fought one time?" Another step.

"Stop moving!" Shirou shouted stepping forward away from doorway.

Immanuel let his arms fall down at his side as he takes another step. "Let's be honest brother, you're not going to kill me. The battle's ended and you don't have it in you to kill in cold blood. It's just one of the many things I inherited from father that you didn't."

"My father was not a killer!" Shirou shouted as his swords faded away, only to be replaced with a pitch-black longbow that he quickly brought to full draw.

"Really? Because mine was," Immanuel said as he took another step and felt his back touch the railing, as he did, he heard a distinct sound coming from below and smiled. "A truly violent man that earned the title 'The Mage Killer'. If you doubt me, just ask El-Melloi what our father did to his predecessor."

Then before Shirou could respond, he grabbed the railing and threw himself over it, plummeting down towards the tracks below. He heard Shirou shout, but the exact words were lost amid the noise of a train emerging from underneath the bridge. Immanuel landed hard on the roof, bouncing on impact and momentarily blacking out from the pain that flared across his body, barely managing to get a grip on the train roof in time to stop himself falling off.

Any relief he felt over his supposed getaway was short lived, as he heard an impact from a few cars down. From his prone position, he looked down the chain of train cars to see Shirou kneeling atop the roof of a car with a sword dug into the roof for stability.

With no where else to run and knowing that his body was in no condition to run, Immanuel made to stand up as Shirou approached. Only for Immanuel's arms to give out, leaving him to fall back down as the pain made his vision swim. Gritting his teeth and getting his knees under him, Immanuel tried again and successfully rose to his feet, swaying dangerously as he tried to take a fighting stance.

Bleeding, bruised, beyond exhausted, and out of weapons, there was no doubt that Immanuel couldn't win this fight, and with his recent fake out, he doubted Shirou would accept a surrender at this point. It dawned on him that this might be it. All his scheming and all his confidence coming into this war, yet here he was, about to become one of the first Masters defeated.

As Shirou charged forward, one armed pulled back to deliver a cut he could neither block nor dodge, Immanuel thoughts were filled with the sight of a girl with violet hair laughing beneath the midday sun, and he felt an inexplicable pain in his chest at the thought of never seeing such a sight ever again.

* * *

A train rushed past Assassin as he appeared in a cloud of smoke, and out of the corner of his eye he caught a glimpse of two figures on the train's roof. His dash down the tracks come to a momentary halt as he turned to confirm what he saw, but the pause, however brief, costs him. Half a dozen arrows impacted his back, with such speed and frequency, that he could only imagine it looked like they all spontaneously grew out of his back as one.

As his strength left his body, he dropped to his knees where he swayed for a moment before falling forward. Lying there on the ground, with the train running so close by, and his mask knocked out of place by his landing, he could only imagine the image of the bowman he knows is coming in to land the killing blow.

Angry tears burned their way down his face. He thought things would be different in this second chance he was gifted. Yet here he was again, once again hunted down and killed by a damn bowman.

* * *

Bleeding from a dozen cuts and lacerations, Berserker was breathing hard, down on one knee and leaning on his hammer for support. Yet Saber wasn't done, lunging forward with her sword outstretched before her.

"Rho Ais!" Berserker shouted, extending a hand and summoning his seven layered shield in the space between them. Only for the blade to glide through the layers of the shield like they weren't even there, only stopping when the hilt slammed into the outermost layer. Then with a twist of her blade, the shield shattered to pieces.

He threw his hand out again and started to shout "Rho-" only for the words to die in his throat as Saber's sword flashed forwards, and Berserker's left arm below the elbow fell to the ground.

"A shield is nothing without an arm to hold it up," Saber declared as she stood triumphantly in front of Berserker. She had not emerged unscathed from the conflict, carrying her own share of cuts and bruises and favouring one leg. "You fought well Ajax the Greater, but you are no Achilles."

Ajax glared defiantly up at her "I know I'm no match for him, I don't need you to tell me that! But I was more than enough to crush plenty of your sisters."

Fury flashed across her face, and she drew her sword back, readying a swing to take his head off, just as he used his remaining hand to raise and swing his hammer. This was it. A death at the hands of a worthy opponent after a hard-fought battle. A death he could be proud of. Despite the dire situation, as Saber's sword closed in, Ajax smiled.

* * *

Lancer rounded a corner just in time to see Caster disappearing through the entrance of a chapel. In the blink of an eye Lancer was standing in that doorway and could see Caster standing in front of the altar and staring back at him.

As Lancer made to step past the threshold, Caster held out a hand "This is the house of God. It is no place for violence."

Lancer paused for a moment, eyeing the various crucifixes and images depicting the twelve stations of the cross that were displayed around the hall, before he looked back at Caster and stepped inside. "The house of your God, not mine. And I don't care for your rules."

As Lancer marched closer Caster threw his arms out sideways and shouted "This is the house of the one true God!" Lancer's legs bent and tensed as he prepared to lunge "And while you are here," Lancer shot forward with his spear outstretched and pointed at Caster's heart "THOU SHALT NOT KILL!" The spear tip slammed to a stop a millimetre from Caster's chest.

Lancer immediately leapt back, wary of a counter attack, but none came. Instead Caster brought his hands in and clasped them in front of his chest. "I was hoping not to endanger a sacred site like this, but you forced my hand," Caster said. As soon as he finished speaking, Lancer felt an enormous pulse of mana spread out from Caster.

* * *

Saber's blade closed in towards Berserker's head and his hammer was on course to return the favor. He could already tell that in his wounded state his strike would be too slow, and he would be the only one to fall here tonight.

As he closed his eyes and embraced his end with a content smile, a familiar warmth spread through his body, and the pain from the sword in his chest disappeared. The warmth should have bestowed a feeling of comfort and safety, but it only brought about a mix of panic and anger, as he felt nothing hit him, nor his hammer strike anything.

He opened his eyes to see that Saber had aborted her strike. She had no doubt seen the golden light spilling from his rapidly healing wounds and rolled to the side to avoid his hammer. Now she was poised in a crouch, ready to strike, but reassessing her situation now that Caster's healing had returned.

"You're timing is terrible Caster," Berserker muttered under his breath as he pulled himself to his feet.

* * *

On the train tracks, Assassin felt a familiar warmth spread through his body as strength returned to him and golden light pushed the arrows out of his back as Archer cursed. The healing spell brought relief, but also a wave of guilt, as Assassin realised that he had not only failed to protect Caster, but Caster had ended up needing to save him.

"A truly shameful display," Assassin thought out loud as he picked himself up off the ground and swore to himself that he would not fail his Master again.

* * *

On top of the train, Immanuel felt relief unlike anything he had ever known as his wounds began to heal. But he didn't have time to bask in it as Shirou's blade closed in, far too close for even his superhuman reflexes to dodge.

At least that would be the case if it weren't for his time magic. Mana pulsed through his body, through the magic crest taken from Kiritsugu, and the world slowed around him. Or more accurately, the world appeared to slow down as he sped up.

With his extended time frame, Immanuel took in Shirou's attack, a right handed slash designed to cut diagonally across the body, and responded by pivoting on his front foot, and lowering his torso as his right leg came up; the heel coming in just too low to connect with Shirou's jaw and hitting his shoulder instead, with a brutal roundhouse that knocked the young mage clear off the roof of the train.

As his brother fell to the tracks below, Immanuel slumped down onto the roof of the train. He let himself lay there for a few moments as Caster's healing worked its magic. On the mend, but still thoroughly exhausted, Immanuel reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone.

* * *

Outside of Melbourne, in the manor occupied by the Einzbern forces, a landline phone loudly rangout, only to be picked up almost immediately by Sakura.

"Immanuel is that you?" she asked, making no attempt to hide the anxiety she had been feeling all night.

"Yeah it's me," the voice on the other end responded, sounding very out-of-breath. "Send Assassin my way. It's time we got out of here."

"Of course! I'll pass the message on to Mr Musik as well," Sakura replied.

She was about to put the phone down when Immanuel spoke up "Sakura, I…"

"Yes?"

"It's a... it's good to hear your voice."

Sakura smiled "It's good to hear from you too. Make sure you get home safely, okay?"

"I'll try. See you soon."

"See you soon," Sakura echoed before putting the phone down and raising the hand which held the three blood red symbols that made up her command seals.

"By my command seal," she started, and with those words alone she could already feel the power contained in the symbols start to radiate out, "Assassin, I order you to go to Immanuel's side and bring him safely to me!" The symbols flashed, releasing a pulse of magic, and when the light faded away, one of the symbols on her hand had also dulled and faded.

With that done she quickly made her way through the house, from her bedroom on the second floor to the cellar that Mr Musik had converted into his workshop. As she approached the door to the cellar, she began to hear the low hum that seemed to constantly emanate from his workshop.

With a gentle knock on the door, she called through the door "Mr Musik, Immanuel has called for a retreat."

When there was no response she knocked again. "Mr Musik?" When there was still no response, she tentatively reached for the door handle, and upon attempting to turn it, found the door unlocked. With a gentle push, the door slowly swung slightly inwards, and an eerie green light spilled out from inside the cellar.

Curiosity getting the better of her, Sakura gave the door another push. As it opened fully, Gordes Musik could be seen reclining in a leather armchair, with a glass of red wine held lazily in one hand, as a magically projected screen showed what Sakura could only assume was the view through Berserker's eyes.

However Gordes was only afforded a fleeting thought in Sakura's mind as she finally saw the cause of both the constant humming and the green light. Glass tanks with large metal bases stretched between the floor and ceiling, and inside, suspended in an unknown liquid, were the unmoving forms of dozens of people.

"I heard you girl. No need for you to keep bothering me," Gordes said without moving or looking away from the screen.

Sakura had no response for the man, as she silently staggered back away from the doorway in shock, before turning and running. Where as her journey there had been a purposeful, but dignified power walk, the return trip was a desperate scramble, as she went as fast as her legs would carry her, slamming into corners and pushing off walls.

Upon reaching her room, she slammed the door behind her and as soon as it closed she pressed her back against it as she slid to the ground, her breathing heavy and haggard. But there was no sense of safety as inside her mind, the image of the people floating in those tanks remained, only to be interspersed with flashes where they were instead in a much deeper, darker cellar. One filled with worms that fed on a person's magic.

As she pressed her hands to her head and pulled her knees to her chest, another image joined the fray; with her as the one trapped in the tube. She found herself struggling to breath, as the her that was inside the tube thrashed and struggled desperately to try and escape the tube. Tears rolled down her cheeks as the struggles of the Sakura inside the tube grew weak and slow.

* * *

Berserker breathed a sigh of relief as the order came through to fall back. It was not because his situation was dire, but rather the exact opposite. With Caster's healing on his side, the fight was a farce. He didn't doubt that Saber was still capable of putting up a fight before he would kill her.

But that was the problem. As things were, the fight was a question of how long it would take him to kill her. Not whether he could. There was no honour to be found here. Killing her like this would prove nothing.

"The battle is over for tonight Saber. Hopefully we will have a chance to fight on even ground once more before this war is over," Berserker said before dematerialising and leaving.

* * *

As the mana pulse spread out from Caster, Lancer lunged forward again to try stab the spellcaster, only to find himself once again pulling the attack short just before impact. Pulling his weapon back, he spun the spear around before swinging it at Caster's head. And once again he involuntarily stopped it when the spear head was a hair's breadth away from slicing through Caster's skull.

In anger, Lancer raised a leg up and sent out a vicious push kick aimed at Caster's gut. And it connected. The blow doubled Caster over and slammed him into the altar.

"So I can't land a killing blow, but I can still hurt you. Interesting," Lancer mused as he watched Caster stagger back to his feet.

"That's an impressive spell you've got there," Lancer admitted as he drove the spike on his spear into the ground, leaving it standing there as he advanced towards the altar. "The ability to invoke specific command seal level commandments on another Servant. But you couldn't do that earlier could you? Or at least, you couldn't do that and maintain that healing spell," by this point he had reached the altar and with one hand grabbed Caster by the collar, while the other hand was drawn back before unleashing a punch that broke Caster's nose in a shower of blood.

"But that spell, and the sudden boost of power now that you're in the house of your God betrays your identity; Moses." Caster's hood fell away as the impact of the punch knocked him down, revealing a man with weatherbeaten skin, messy dark hair, and a thick beard. "You died before reaching your promised land," Lancer continued "so you cannot make a territory of your own. Instead the house of your god is your territory."

"Do you plan to keep beating my like the brute you are? Fore if that is your plan, I should warn you, I've endured far worse than anything you can do," Caster replied from his position slumped over the altar.

"I've a far better idea," Lancer said, as he held out his hand, and his spear vanished from its place in the ground and appeared in his hand. The spearman raised his weapon high, then brought it slamming down, right next to Caster's head, plunging deep into the wooden altar.

"No!" Caster roared as he saw the damage done to the sacred item.

"I didn't want to endanger a sacred site. That's what you said right?" Lancer asked as he twisted the spear slightly and a crack spread out from the point of impact. "You aren't nearly guarded enough for a war like this. But I suppose that's what happens when they send a law-maker to do a warrior's job."

"You…" Caster seethed, as his whole body shook.

"What? Don't you have some great spell to attack me with? Maybe a plague to rain down on me?" Lancer goaded.

Caster pushed himself to his feet and inhaled sharply, as though preparing to do exactly what Lancer suggested. Only to pause for a moment, and then exhale as a sudden calm seemed to roll over the white-robed man.

"You will pay for your disrespect," Caster promised, unnaturally calm in comparison to how he was a moment before. "However tonight's conflict has come to an end, and so your judgement will have to wait." With that said, Caster dematerialised, leaving Lancer alone in the church.

"Dammit!" Lancer yelled, kicking the altar hard enough to send the solid wooden table slamming against the back wall.

* * *

On a distant rooftop, Shinji Matou lowered a pair of binoculars and let out an exasperated sigh "All that build up, and for what? No one even died! What a let down."

"Such is life," a broad shouldered man sitting next to Shinji on the edge of the rooftop said. "Sometimes we just got to do things ourselves. Just say the word, and I'll take the shot Boss."

Shinji gave a non-committal "Hmm," as he raised the binoculars to his eyes. He took in the three Knight class Servants meeting up, all showing various levels of frustration at their lack of results. From there he shifted his focus to Shirou picking himself up off the tracks and walking off with a slight limp in the direction of Tohsaka. He then looked to the woman herself, Rin Tohsaka, helping up some badly injured girl he didn't recognise.

So many targets, so many choices. "We'll leave them be for now. We don't want to play our hand to early. Plus, I think things are just about to get truly interesting," Shinji said as he turned to his companion. "Wouldn't you agree, Gunner?"

* * *

 **AN: Dun dun duh, Shinji returns. In regards to Caster's identity, I'm aware that the nasuverse already has a set image of how Moses looks, and that it is nothing like what I have described here.**

 **As always, constructive criticism is appreciated.**


End file.
